\eld  Museum  of 

latoral  History 

PoblicationSjan 

thropologjcal 


57  2. 05 
FA 

COP  3 


Field  Columbian  Museum 
Publication  99 
[ropological  series  vol.  ix,  no.  i 


THE   CHEYENNE 


George  A.  Dorsey 

Curator,  Department  of  Anthropology 


I.  CEREMONIAL  ORGANIZATION 


Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 

March,  1905 


Life 


■■''•*' 


Field  Columbian  Museum    - 
Publication  99 
Anthropological  Series  Vol.  IX,  No.  1 


CD 


CD 


THE   CHEYENNE 


BY 


George  A.  Dorsey 
Curator,  Department  of  Anthropology 


I.  CEREMONIAL  ORGANIZATION 


Chicago,  U.  S.  A. 

March,  1905 


THE  CHEYENNE 

BY 

George  A.  Dorsey 
I.  SOCIAL  ORGANIZATION 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

The  following  brief  and  imperfect  account  of  the  Cheyenne  social 
organization  was  obtained  as  part  of  my  studies  of  the  Cheyenne 
Sun-Dance,  which,  in  turn,  are  part  of  a  comparative  study  on  this 
ceremony  among  the  Plains  Tribes  I  began  in  1901.  The  Cheyenne 
Sun-Dance  will  form  the  subject  of  Part  II.  of  this  volume.  These 
notes  on  the  organization  of  the  Cheyenne  are  given  in  this  form 
because  opportunity  for  further  and  more  extended  observation  does 
not  now  seem  possible. 

The  Cheyenne,  while  considered  in  many  ways  the  most  conser- 
vative of  the  tribes  of  the  plains,  are  rapidly  losing  their  social  organi- 
zation, and  the  time  will  soon  arrive  when  it  will  cease  to  have 
any  meaning  to  the  tribe  as  a  whole.  This  organization  was  not 
unlike  that  of  the  Arapaho,  and  was  formerly  strictly  adhered  to. 

The  accounts  of  the  societies,  the  myths  of  the  origin  of  the  same, 

and  the  story  of  the  medicine-arrows  are  given,  with  but  slight  changes, 

as  they  were  obtained  through  Richard  Davis,  a  full -blood  Cheyenne, 

as  interpreter      The   colored   illustrations  were   made    direct   from 

drawings  made  by  Richard  Davis  or  other  Cheyenne  artists;  the  pen 

drawings  were  made  from  diagrams  drawn  by  Richard  Davis. 

George  A.  Dorsey. 
March,  1905. 


CONTENTS. 

Page 
Ceremonies. 

i.     The  Prophet's  four  great  Medicine- Arrows  i 

2 .  The  Keeper  of  the  Medicine- Arrows  -         -         -  -  -         -n 

3 .  The  four  assistant  Medicine- Arrow  Keepers        -  -  -          -        1 1 

4.  The  Medicine-Men     -         -         -         ---  -  -          -12 

5.  The  four  ex-Chiefs  and  the  forty  Chiefs     -          -  -  -          -        12 

6.  The  five  original  Warrior  Societies     -          -          -  -  -.-15 

7.  The  Red-Shield  Warriors  -         -         -         -         -  -  -          -16 

8.  The  Hoof- Rattle  Warriors          -         -         -         -  -  -         -       18 

9.  The  Coyote  Warriors         -         -         -         -         -  -  -         -19 

10.  The  Dog-Men  Warriors      ------  .  .        2Q 

11.  The  Inverted  or  Bow-String  Warriors        -----        24 

12.  Owl-Man's  Bow-String  or  Wolf  Warriors  -----        26 

13.  The  Medicine  or  Sun  Dance      -         -         -         -         -         -         -30 


II.     Myths. 
14 


The  Origin  of  the  Cheyenne       -  -  -  -  -  -  -34 

The  Origin  of  the  Cheyenne       -*-  -  -  -  -  "37 

The  Origin  of  the  Buffalo  and  of  Corn        -  -  -  -  -        39 

The  Origin  of  the  Medicine-Arrows    -  -  -  -         -         -41 

The  Origin  of  the  Sun-Dance     -------       46 


III.     Conclusion   -----------       ^0 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Plate  Page 

I.     The  Medicine- Arrow — Camp  Circle      -  -  -  -  -  -  7 

II.     The  Election  of  Chiefs — Camp  Circle  -         -         -         -         -       12 

III.  Diagram  of  Chief's  Lodge  -         -         -         -         -         -         -13 

IV.  Diagram  of  Chief's  Lodge  -  -  -  -  ---13 

V.     Diagram  of  Chief's  Lodge   -         -         -         -         -         -         -         -13 

VI.     Warrior's  Shirts  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  15 

VII.     War  Bonnets       -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -         -15 

VIII.      Fig.  1.      Red-Shield  Warrior        -  -  -        17 

Fig.  2.      Hoof-Rattle  Warrior      -  -         -  -  -,''■*-  -17 

IX.      Fig.  1.     Coyote  Warrior      --------20 

Fig.  2.     Dog-Men  Warrior  -         -'■'•'-         -         -         -         -20 

X.      Fig.  1.      Inverted  or  Bow-String  Warrior     -  -  -  -  -        24 

Fig.  2.      Inverted  or  Bow-String  Warrior     -  -  -  -  -        24 

XL     Fig.  1.     Wolf  Warriors        -  -         -       28 

Fig.  2.     Wolf  Warriors        --------        28 

XII.     The  Cheyenne  journey  to  the  North    ------       47 

XIII.  Erect-Horns  selects  a  Companion         ------       47 

XIV.  They  discover  the  Sacred  Mountain     ------       48 

XV.     They  receive  instruction  from  the  Great  Medicine         -  -  -       48 

XVI.     They  leave  the  Mountain,  followed  by  Buffalo  48 

XVII.     The  ancient  Cheyenne  Camp-Circle      ------       49 

Fig. 

The  Medicine-Arrows        -          -          -          -  -          -          --          -          4 

Sacred  Lodge  during  the  Arrow  Ceremony  -          -          -          -          -          8 

3.  Diagram  of  Arrows,  Offerings,  etc.  ------         g 

4.  Shield  of  Red-Shield  Warrior             -          -  -          -."---          -          -17 

5.  Hoof-Rattle  Warrior  Musical  Instrument  -----        18 
Wolf-skin  worn  by  Wolf  Warrior      -          -  -          -          -          -          -27 


I.  CEREMONIES. 

i.— THE  PROPHET'S  FOUR  GREAT  MEDICINE-ARROWS. 

Two  or  three  thousand  years  ago,  in  the  Cheyenne  tribe,  a  boy 
was  born,  who,  from  babyhood,  possessed  great  intellectual  power. 
He  not  only  had  supernatural  powers,  but  he  was  a  prophet  from  the 
beginning  of  his  life.  This  boy  grew  into  manhood,  and  lived  to  be 
four  hundred  years  old.  He  claimed  to  have  received  his  powers 
and  to  have  come  as  a  messenger  from  the  Great  Medicine,  who  sent 
him  to  teach  and  organize  the  Cheyenne,  that  they  "might  know, 
through  him,  what  to  do  for  their  future.  This  Prophet's  name  was 
Motzeyeuff.  The  Cheyenne,  who  then  lived  like  animals,  had  med- 
icine-men who  were  magicians.  They  became  angry  and  drove  the 
Prophet  away,  because  he  killed  a  chief  of  the  tribe  who  had  abused 
his  playmates  because  they  were  skinning  a  young  buffalo  that  they 
had  killed  to  get  its  hide  for  a  robe  for  their  Prophet. 

When  the  people  drove  the  Prophet  away  he  stayed  away  from 
his  tribe  for  four  years.  He  went  to  a  high  mountain,  and  as  he  went 
near  it  a  door  opened  for  him  to  enter  into  the  earth,  and  he  entered. 
Inside  of  the  mountain  he  communicated  with  the  Great  Medicine. 
There  were  several  other  men  there  who  represented  other  nations, 
and  were  there  to  learn  from  the  Great  Medicine.  These  men  con- 
sisted of  several  red-skinned  men,  one  black-skinned  man,  who  was 
dressed  in  Indian  fashion,  and  one  white-skinned  man,  who  had  long 
hair  on  his  chin.  All  wore  long  hair  on  their  heads.  The  Great 
Medicine  instructed  each  and  every  one  who  was  there  for  four  years. 

The  Prophet  received  his  instructions  direct  from  the  Great 
Medicine.  After  four  years  he  returned  to  his  people  as  a  man  of 
supernatural  power,  a  messenger,  and  a  prophet  from  the  Great  Medi- 
cine. When  he  returned  he  brought  with  him  the  buffalo  to  feed  his 
people;  but  the  greatest  gifts  he  had  for  them  were  the  four  great 
medicine -arrows.  The  Great  Medicine  sent  these  medicine-arrows  to 
the  Cheyenne  as  an  emblem  for  their  future.  There  were  four  original 
medicine-arrows.  These  arrows  possessed  magic,  and  the  Great  Medi- 
cine decreed  that  they  should  produce  effects  beyond  natural  powers. 
For  instance,  when  this  Prophet,  or  the  following  Prophets,  took  the 
arrows  and  held  the  points  towards  an  enemy,  or  towards  any  kind  of 


2         1  hid  Columbian  Museum — Anthropology,  Vol.  IX 

animals,  they  became  confused  and  unconscious.  Two  of  these  arrows 
possessed  power  over  men,  and  the  other  two  possessed  power 
over  buffalo  and  other  beasts,  and  so  two  of  them  were 
called  "man-arrows,"  and  two  of  them  "buffalo-arrows."  The 
two  man-arrows  affected  even'  person.  The  man-arrow  points 
killed  women  if  they  passed  in  front  of  the  points,  or  if  the 
points  were  held  towards  them.  For  this  reason  no  women 
were  allowed  in  the  arrow  ceremony.  Another  reason  is  that 
the  original  Prophet  decreed  that  no  women  should  take  part 
in  the  ceremony,  or  see  these  arrows.  To  this  day  none  of  the  Cheyenne 
women  know  how  the  arrows  look,  and  every  Cheyenne  is  afraid 
to  go  in  front  of  the  points  of  the  two  man-arrows.  These  arrows 
were  very  strong  and  very  effective  when  the  tribe  was  still  in  its 
free  state.  If  the  people  were  hungry,  and  had  nothing  to  live  on, 
all  they  had  to  do  was  to  find  a  herd  of  buffalo  and  have  the  keeper 
of  the  two  buffalo-arrows  point  them  towards  the  herd.  The  Cheyenne, 
who  had  no  horses  in  those  days,  could  go  up  to  the  buffalo  and  kill 
all  they  desired  by  means  of  these  arrows.  When  they  did  this  the 
rule  was  to  take  everything  except  the  head,  and  to  leave  the  horns 
on,  and  to  leave  the  backbone  attached  to  the  head  and  the  tail. 
Every  animal  killed  with  the  medicine-arrows  had  to  be  treated  in 
that  way.  These  arrows  made  the  buffalo  crazy.  They  had  no 
will  of  their  own,  but  would  run  in  a  circle  until  the  Cheyenne  had 
killed  all  they  wanted,  and  then  they  would  dash  off.  The  Cheyenne 
used  these  arrows  to  kill  all  beasts  they  desired  to  eat,  but  only  when 
they  had  to  do  so. 

These  sacred  arrows  are  somewhat  different  from  ordinary  Chey- 
enne arrows.  They  are  about  thirty-six  inches  long,  one-half  an  inch 
in  diameter,  round,  very  straight,  with  flintstone  points.  The  points 
are  tied  in  at  the  end,  and  over  each  of  the  four  arrow  points  is  tied 
a  covering  of  white,  downy  eagle  feathers.  At  the  other  end  are  whole 
wing  feathers  of  the  eagle,  split  in  two,  and  tied  on  each  side  of  the 
arrows.  The  shafts  are  also  partly  covered  with  the  white,  downy  feath- 
ers of  an  eagle.  All  the  feathers  are  painted  red.  On  each  of  the 
four  arrows  are  painted  figures  of  the  world,  the  blue  paint  meaning 
blue  heavens,  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  the  red  paint  meaning  the  earth. 
Buffalo  and  other  animals  are  also  painted.  So  these  sacred  arrows 
are  held  symbolic  of  the  Great  Medicine,  who  made  the  sun,  moon, 
and!  the  stars,  and  the  earth.  When  the  great  Prophet,  the  real 
Prophet,  who  brought  these  four  sacred  arrows,  returned  to  his  people, 
he  did  what  the  Croat  Medicine  taught  him  while  inside  of  the  earth, 
and  to  this  day  the  whole   medicine-arrow  ceremony  is  performed 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  3 

exactly  as  the  Prophet  taught  them  in  the  beginning.  On  the  day 
the  great  Prophet  returned  to  his  people,  he  organized  the  Cheyenne 
tribe  in  order,  as  follows: 

1 .  The  Prophet. 

2.  The  keeper  of  the  medicine-arrows. 

3.  The  four  assistant  arrow-keepers, 

4.  The  medicine  men. 

5.  The  four  chiefs  (ex-chiefs). 

6.  The  forty  chiefs. 

7.  The  four  chiefs  of  warriors. 

8.  The  five  warrior  societies. 

Each  society  is  composed  of  one  hundred  or  more  male  Chey- 
enne, from  fifteen  to  forty  years  old.  The  societies  that  the  original 
prophet  organized  go  by  the  following  names: 

The  Red-Shield  Warriors. 

The  Hoof -Rattle  Warriors. 

The  Dog-Men  Warriors. 

The  Coyote  Warriors. 

The  Bow-String  Warriors. 

All  of  the  warriors' .  societies  are  original  except  the  Bow- 
String  Society.     This  society  was  formed  after  the  others. 

The  original  Prophet  of  the  Cheyenne  foretold  all  that  has  come 
to  pass.  Everything  that  he  foretold  has  taken  place  in  exactly 
the  way  he  said  it  would.  He  told  the  following  about  the  coming 
of  the  white  man:  "A  person  who  has  long  hair  on  chin  and  on  legs, 
and  carries  with  him  sickness  of  all  kinds,  is  coming  to  you  in  the  future. 
With  him  he  will  bring  an  animal  that  has  flashing  eyes,  and  a  tail 
that  touches  the  ground,  and  one  hoof  on  each  foot.  This  animal 
will  be  restless,  and  the  hairy  person  will  also  be  restless.  Do  not 
try  to  be  like  them.  This  hairy  person  will  also  bring  a  spotted  animal 
with  horns,  big  eyes,  and  a  long  tail  that  will  touch  the  ground.  This 
animal  will  live  on  dirt,  and  will  eat  anything.  If  you  take  after  it 
and  eat  it,  you  will  eat  almost  anything  else."  He  prophesied  of  the 
future  of  the  Cheyenne  in  this  language:  "My  brothers  and  children, 
and  all  my  people  of  this  earth!  Listen  and  remember  my  words, 
for  they  are  as  sharp  as  the  points  of  the  great  sacred  arrows,  and 
keep  my  prophecies  of  the  future  in  your  minds  as  long  as  your  people 
and  the  earth  last,  and  then  the  Cheyenne  as  a  people  will  never 
become  extinct  as  long  as  the  blue  heavens,  the  sun,  moon,  and 
earth  last.  Do  not  forget  your  sacred  arrows.  Remember  them 
always,  and  no  other.  You  will  renew  your  sacred  arrow  sticks  four 
times." 


4        Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX 

The  Cheyenne  still  have  two  of  the  original  sacred  arrows, 
and  the  sticks,  or  wooden  part  of  these  arrows,  have  never  been 
renewed.  They  still  have  three  more  times  to  renew  them,  accord- 
ing to  the  prophecy.  Only  the  Prophet  and  the  Arrow- Keepers 
know  the  kind  of  wood  that  is  used  in  the  arrows.  Some  sixty  or 
seventy  years  ago,  the  medicine-arrow  keeper,  by  carelessness,  made 
a  mistake  in  performing  the  ceremony  just  before  an  attack  was  made 
upon  a  Pawnee  camp.  He  did  not  correct  the  mistake,  and  the 
result  was  that  they  did  not  affect  the  camp,  and  although  they 
slaughtered  the  bravest  of  the  Pawnee  warriors,  an  old-time  Pawnee 
warrior  captured  the  four  sacred  arrows  from  the  Cheyenne.*   A  long 


Fig.  i.     The  Medicine-Arrows. 


time  afterward  the  Pawnee  restored  two  of  the  arrows  to  the  Chey- 
enne.'and  kept  the  other  two  original  arrows.  When  the  Pawnee 
would  not  return  the  other  two  arrows,  the  Prophet  and  the 
Arrow-keeper  who  lost  the  arrows  made  two  in  imitation  of  the  two 
withheld  by  the  Pawnee.  The  imitation  arrows  are  about  three 
inches  longer,  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  wider,  than  the  original  arrows. 
(See  Fig.  i .)  This  Prophet  made  these  arrows  to  complete  the  set, 
so  that  their  ritual  would  be  the  same  as  before.  The  Pawnee 
have  now  the  "man-arrows,"  and  our  medicine-men  claim  that  the 
Pawnee  tribe  is  dying  off  because  they  do  not  know  how  to  treat  these 
arrows  in  the  way  the  original  Prophet  taught  the  Cheyenne.  The 
arrows  still  in  possession  of  the  Cheyenne  are  the  two  original  "buffalo- 
arrows,"  and  two  "man-arrows"  that  were  made  by  a  later  Prophet. 
What  the  original  Prophet  taught  was  written  on  some  hard  and 
strong  skin,  in  Indian    picture-writing.     This  writing  was  done  by 

•See  "How  the  Pawn**  captured  the  Cheyenne  Medicine-Arrows."     Am.  Anth.  (N.  S.»  Vol.  5. 
pp  644-65* 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  5 

the  medicine-men  living  at  the  time  of  the  real  Prophet.  No  one 
but  the  Prophet  and  the  medicine-men  know  about  this. 

The  Cheyenne  of  to-day  perform  this  Medicine-Arrow  ceremony 
exactly  the  way  it  was  performed  thousands  of  years  ago.  They 
perform  the  ceremony  annually.  This  ceremonial  meeting  is  gener- 
ally pledged  or  vowed  by  some  member  of  the  tribe.  According 
to  the  ruling  of  the  original  Prophet,  this  is  a  religious  gathering, 
where  every  family  in  the  Cheyenne  tribe  must  be  represented  in 
the  camp.  This  ceremony  means  reformation  in  general,  and  the 
whole  tribe,  band,  family,  individual,  change  for  the  better.  Their 
courage  and  life  are  renewed.  When  the  man  who  pledges  this 
ceremony  has  set  a  certain  day  and  place,  he  goes  to  the  Prophet, 
the  Arrow-Keeper,  and  his  assistants,  and  notifies  them.  They  pray 
for  him,  and  dress  him  in  a  buffalo  robe,  place  a  pipe  in  his  hand, 
and  paint  his  body  red.  He  then  starts  out  to  notify  the  other 
medicine-men.  When  he  reaches  the  medicine-men  he  presents 
his  pipe  to  them,  and  then  the  medicine-men  go  out  and  call  in  all 
the  warriors.  After  they  are  gathered,  and  the  coming  event  is  ex- 
plained to  them,  the  pipe  is  lighted  and  smoked  by  every  warrior 
who  desires  to  go.  Every  one  who  smokes  it  pledges  himself  that 
he  will  attend  the  ceremony.  The  pledger  then  goes  on  to  visit  and 
notify  the  different  bands  of  Cheyenne.  He  is  gone  several  days, 
as  there  are  four  large  bands  in  the  tribe.  When  he  visits  the  bands, 
each  band  presents  him  with  some  contribution  for,  the  coming  cere- 
mony. Then  he  goes  back  to  the  Arrow-Keeper,  and  informs  him 
that  he  is  ready.  The  whole  tribe  then  moves,  and  assembles  at 
some  quiet  place  selected  beforehand,  where  no  other  people  will 
bother  them.  They  put  up  their  camp  in  a  new  moon  circle,  the 
space  or  opening  of  this  circle  facing  in  the  direction  least  likely  to 
be  approached.  The  space  or  opening  of  this  medicine -arrow  camp 
is  rather  larger  than  the  opening  of  other  camp  circles  of  the  tribe. 
No  one,  not  even  animals,  are  allowed  to  pass  in  front  of  the  open- 
ing, for  it  is  sacred  as  long  as  the  ceremony  lasts. 

First  Day* — The  man  who  makes  the  ceremony  puts  his  tipi 
up  in  the  middle  front  of  the  camp.  After  he  puts  it  up  it  is  then 
called  the  place  of  sacrifice  to  the  Great  Medicine,  and  the  people 
take  to  the  tipi  calicoes  or  anything  they  desire  to  contribute  for  this 
worship.  Usually  a  half -day  is  allowed  to  make  these  offerings.  After 
that  the  assistant  medicine-men  take  these  offerings  and  tie  them  to- 
gether and  hang  them  outside  of  the  tipi,  just  over  the  door  or  en- 

*Much  of  the  information  here  presented  was  obtained  by  Mr.  Davis  daring  the  ceremony 
held  on  November  24-27,  igo2,  which  was  pledged  by  White  Thunder  on  the  death  of  his  wife. 


6         Fikld  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology.  Vol.  IX. 

trance.  After  this  offering  has  taken  place,  any  person  or  family  may 
leave  for  home,  if  necessary,  but  not  before.  After  the  offerings  are 
hung  out  over  the  door  of  the  sacrifice  tipi,  the  warrior  societies  all 
congregate  in  the  center  of  the  camp  circle,  and  select  a  place  to  erect 
the  great  Medicine- Arrows  lodge.  After  they  select  the  place,  they 
appoint  certain  members  of  warrior  societies  of  good  character  to  go 
and  get  long  tipi  poles.  They  also  select  another  set  of  good  warriors 
to  go  and  wait  upon  two  men  who  have  lived  good  lives,  and  have 
been  good  to  their  fellow-men.  This  set  of  warriors  goes  to  the  two 
good  men  and  borrows  their  tipis,  which  are  generally  of  good  size, 
to  use  to  cover  this  sacred  lodge.  The  rule  in  getting  the  poles  and 
the  two  tipis  to  be  used  for  the  sacred  lodge  is  this:  "Take  the  two 
tipis  of  two  good  men,  who  have  good  characters,  have  led  good 
lives,  and  have  always  been  good  to  their  fellow-men,  but  never  take 
a  man's  tipi  to  be  used  in  the  sacred  lodge  who  has  led  a  bad  life, 
or  who  has  murdered  a  member  of  the  tribe."  So  it  is  an  honor 
to  a  man  if  the  warriors  come  and  take  his  tipi  to  use  for  the  Medicine- 
Arrow  lodge.  Any  member  of  the  tribe  who  has  committed  murder 
in  the  tribe  is  not  allowed  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony.  The  warriors 
proceed  and  take  the  two  tipis  and  poles  to  the  center  of  the  camp. 
There  they  put  up  the  great  Medicine-Arrow  lodge,  always  facing 
towards  the  opening  of  the  camp  circle.  The  longest  tipi  poles  are 
used  in  this  lodge,  and  also  the  largest  tipi  found  in  the  camp  is  used 
to  cover  it.  This  lodge  is  put  up  in  the  same  style  as  the  regular 
Cheyenne  tipi,  only  it  is  three  times  as  large.  Two  tipis  are  used, 
and  from  fifty  to  sixty  poles.  These  poles  are  set  in  the  ground  so 
deep  that  the  wind  cannot  blow  them  down.  After  the  lodge  is 
erected,  the  medicine-men  go  inside  and  clear  the  ground,  and  they 
make  it  as  smooth  as  it  can  be  made.  They  lay  sage  brush  all  around 
the  inside  to  sit  on.  After  this  is  done,  the  medicine-men  make 
plans  for  the  warriors,  who,  from  now  on,  and  as  long  as  the  ceremony 
lasts,  congregate  fifty  paces  back  of  the  sacred  lodge  day  and  night. 
Each  society  takes  turns  in  keeping  order  in  the  camp  while  the 
ceremony  goes  on  inside  the  sacred  lodge. 

Second  Day. — In  the  morning  the  man  who  makes  this  ceremony 
takes  with  him  three  other  men.  They  go  to  the  sacrifice  tipi,  and 
bring  all  of  the  offerings  to  the  sacred  lodge,  and  place  them  inside 
at  the  altar,  where  the  medicine-men  are  already  sitting.  After 
they  put  them  down  they  come  out  in  single  file,  one  behind  the 
other.  In  every  case  the  ceremonial  master  leads.  He  is  naked,  and 
his  body  is  painted  red,  and  he  has  a  buffalo  robe  on.  The  other  three 
men  who  follow  him  once  wore  buffalo  robes,  but  they  go  without 


FIELD  COLUMBIAN   MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.   PL.   I. 


A8 


ty& 


^,    Am- -> 

A 
2 


is 


A 
!  A* 


NORTH 


i*i  •  « 

v'.'    jfc    •,;'.•' 


THE  GREAT  MEDICINE  AR- 
ROW LODGE 


OFFtRING  TIPI 


I   'OfHl  UTM 


Pl.  I.    The  Medicine-Arrow  Ceremony  Camp-Circle. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  7 

them  now.  They  come  out  of  the  lodge  in  file,  and  walk  slowly 
to  the  Arrow-Keeper's  tipi,  or  the  home  of  the  sacred  arrows.  This 
tipi  always  stands  out  in  front  of  the  right  wing  of  the  circle. 
These  four  men  walk  slowly  toward  it  and  wail  on  the  way.  When 
they  reach  the  Keeper's  tipi  they  halt,  and  then  move  four  times 
forwards  and  backwards,  and  the  fourth  time  they  go  into  the  tipi. 
The  Keeper  of  the  arrows  lives  in  this  tipi,  and  is  there  when  they 
enter.  They  sit  down  and  he  prays  for  them,  and  turns  the  four 
medicine-arrows  over  to  these  four  men.  These  medicine-arrows 
are  wrapped  in  red  fox  skin,  tanned  with  the  hair  on.  The  tanned 
side  is  turned  out,  while  the  hair  side  is  on  the  inside,  next  to  the 
arrows.  After  they  receive  this  bundle  these  four  men  come  out  of 
the  tipi,  the  leader  coming  first  with  the  bundle  on  his  left  arm,  the 
fox  head  pointing  up.  When  the  four  men  get  outside  in  front  of 
the  Arrow-Keeper's  tipi,  they  stand  in  file.  The  leader  prays  before 
starting  back.  Then  he  proceeds  to  the  sacred  lodge,  with  the  other 
three  walking  behind  him  very  slowly,  and  they  all  wail  on  the  way 
back.  See  Plate  I.  They  halt  four  times  on  the  way.  They  always 
enter  the  sacred  lodge  from  the  right'  side.  As  soon  as  the  great 
medicine-arrows  are  taken  into  the  lodge  the  warriors  assemble  at  the 
back  of  the  sacred  lodge.  There  they  decide  what  society  shall 
keep  order  that  day  and  that  night.  No  one  but  the  medicine-men 
are  allowed  inside  of  the  lodge  after  the  arrows  are  taken  in.  When 
the  medicine-men  have  started  to  prepare  the  altar  and  open  the 
sacred  arrows,  they  notify  the  warriors,  who  then  start  out  by  twos, 
with  sticks  and  clubs  in  their  hands.  They  go  through  the  whole 
camp,  and  allow  no  one  to  play  or  make  any  kind  of  loud  noise. 
They  establish  warrior's  order.  They  go  by  pairs  at  a  distance 
about  one  hundred  yards  apart.  They  keep  on  walking  until  sun- 
down. Then  another  set  of  warriors  relieves  them  for  the  whole 
night.  In  this  way  they  keep  order  day  and  night.  While  these 
warriors  are  walking  their  beat  and  keeping  order,  food  is  served  to 
them  three  times  a  day  back  of  the  sacred  lodge.  Some  are  eating, 
while  others  are  out  on  their  rounds.  No  women  are  allowed  outside 
of  the  tipis  as  long  as  the  warriors  are  out,  only  men  who  have  to  get 
water  or  wood  are  allowed  to  be  out. 

If  the  medicine-men  who  are  inside  of  the  sacred  lodge  find  that 
the  feathers  of  the  medicine-arrows  are  in  need  of  repair,  they  renew 
them  or  repair  them,  but  they  never  renew  the  wooden  shafts  of  the 
arrows.  The  medicine-men  claim  that  the  original  arrows  are  not 
of  wood,  or  else  they  would  not  have  lasted  so  long.  Others  say 
they  must  be  of  wood,  for  the  real  Prophet  would  not  have  prophesied 


8        I •' i i-.i-d  Columbian  Museum   -Anthropology,  Vol.  IV 

that  they  should  renew  their  arrow  sticks  four  times.  If  the  feathers 
are  to  be  renewed,  a  steady,  healthy,  clean,  good  man  is  appointed 
l>v  the  medicine-men  to  tie  the  feathers  and  handle  the  sacred  arrows. 
When  removing  the  arrows  from  the  bundle,  the  points  are  held 
towards  the  camp-circle  opening,  where  no  one  is  sitting  or  standing. 


•  GREAT  MEDICINE  MEN&  PLACE 


^ 


Fir,  s,    s.htimI  Lodge  during  the  Arrow  Ceremony. 


If  any  part  of  the  feathers  of  the  arrows  is  to  be  renewed,  it  is  done  on 
the  third  May.  All  medicine-men  who  go  there  do  not  stay  all  the 
time,  but  take  turns,  just  as  the  warriors  do;  but  the  man  who  makes 
the  ceremony  is  there  with  the  Prophet  and  assistant  Keepers  all  the 
time. 

Third  Day. — The  medicine-men  prepare  small,  long,  round  willow 
.  about  one  yard  long.     These  they  split  in  two.     Sometimes 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  9 

these  sticks  number  several  hundred,  or  even  a  thousand.  Each  one 
of  these  sticks  represents  a  Cheyenne  family.  Even  those  who  are 
not  present  are  represented  by  these  sticks.  See  Fig.  2.  They  do 
not  keep  these  sticks;  they  are  only  prepared  to  count  with,  and  are 
thrown  away  after  the  ceremony.  In  front,  and  on  each  side  of  the 
altar,  an  incense  fire  is  kept  continually  burning  to  the  Great  Med- 
icine, to  bless  every  Cheyenne  family  represented  in  the  ceremony, 
and  each  stick  is  held  over  the  burning  incense.  This  continues  all 
day  of  the  third  day  and  night,  and  part  of  the  fourth  day.  While 
this  incense  is  burning  all  the  medicine-men  in  the  whole  camp  pre- 
pare and  improve  their  med- 
icines in  their  tipis.  All  of 
their  medicines  are  of  herbs. 
Three  or  four  medicine-men 
come  together  to  arrange 
these  medicines,  and  they 
also  go  through  their  own 
ceremonies. 

Fourth  Day. — When  the 
family  sticks  are  finished, 
usually  in  the  afternoon,  the 
man  who  has  pledged  the 
ceremony  sends  one  of  the 
warriors  to  get  a  pole  from 
one  of  the  camps.  This  pole 
is    forked,    about     five     feet 

long,  by  three  inches  through,  and  is  pointed  at  the  other  end,  so 
it  may  be  thrust  into  the  ground.  The  warrior  brings  this  pole, 
and  takes  it  to  the  medicine-men.  The  assistant  Arrow-Keepers 
take  the  four  sacred  arrows  and  tie  them  together  against  the  pole 
so  that  they  point  upward  and  downward.  The  two  original  med- 
icine-arrows have  their  points  up  towards  the  sky,  while  the  imitation 
arrows  have  their  points  directed  downwards.  After  they  are  tied 
on  this  pole,  the  pledger  takes  the  pole  and  comes  out  from  the 
medicine-lodge,  holding  it  and  the  arrows  vertically.  He  goes  for- 
ward to  a  distance  of  one  hundred  yards  from  the  great  Medicine- 
Arrow  lodge,  and  halts  and  puts  the  pointed  end  of  the  pole  in  the 
ground.  (See  Fig.  3.)  He  wails  as  he  comes  from  the  lodge.  After  he 
puts  the  pole  into  the  ground  so  that  it  will  stand  firmly,  he  returns 
to  the  lodge  and  brings  out  the  red  fox-skin  wrapper,  and  lays  it  down 
beside  the  pole.  He  goes  very  slowly,  and  wails  all  the  time. 
When  he  returns  to  the  lodge  the  medicine-men  come  out  and  bring 


Fig.  3.     Diagram  of  Arrows,  Offerings,  etc. 


io       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

the  offerings  and  lay  them  down  beside  the  pole  and  the  wrapper. 
When  the  offerings  are  brought  out  from  the  Medicine-Arrow 
lodge,  all  males  of  the  tribe,  from  the  oldest  men  to  the  youngest 
boy  baby,  go  to  see  these  ancient  arrows  hanging  outside  in  the 
air  for  inspection.  Every  male  knows  how  these  medicine-arrows 
look,  and  in  case  the  medicine-men  who  renewed  the  feathers  did 
not  tie  them  like  the  original  they  would  know,  but  the  medicine- 
men do  not  often  make  mistakes.  Here  the  boys  bring  offerings 
again,  and  lay  them  beside  the  other  offerings.  All  males  view 
these  arrows,  and  when  every  male  in  the  Cheyenne  tribe  has  seen 
them,  the  warriors  go  to  work  and  take  the  original  Medicine- 
Arrow  lodge  down  and  erect  another  lodge  over  the  place  where  the 
pole  with  the  medicine-arrows  is  standing,  in  front  of  the  arrow- 
lodge.  This  is  called  the  Prophet's  lodge.  They  use  the  same  poles 
and  the  same  two  tipis,  only  they  get  a  third  tipi,  for  they  use  three 
tipi  coverings  to  cover  the  Prophet's  lodge,  while  the  Medicine-Arrow 
lodge  has  only  two  tipi  covers.  They  make  the  Prophet's  lodge 
larger,  so  that  it  can  accommodate  every  medicine-man  in  the  tribe. 
When  this  Prophet's  lodge  is  up  they  bring  the  medicine-arrows 
out  from  it  and  take  them  back  to  their  home  where  the  Keeper  lives. 
On  the  night  of  the  fourth  day  all  the  medicine-men  and  the  Prophet 
go  to  the  newly  erected  Prophet's  lodge.  Here  they  sing  four  of 
the  most  sacred  songs.  They  are  the  same  sacred  songs  that  the 
original  Prophet  of  thousands  of  years  ago  sang  to  them  and  taught 
them.  They  sing  the  four  sacred  songs  as  they  come  in  order.  After 
each  song  they  prophesy,  the  same  as  the  real  Prophet  did.  They 
chant  four  times,  twice  before  midnight  and  twice  after  midnight. 
When  they  have  chanted  four  times  the  Prophet's  lodge  is  uncovered 
at  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Prophet  and  the  med- 
icine-men and  the  man  who  is  carrying  on  the  ceremony  then  come 
back  to  where  the  first  offering  tipi  was.  At  this  place  a  sweat-lodge 
has  been  erected  during  the  night,  after  the  ceremony  is  over  at  the 
Prophet's  lodge.  They  all  come  to  this  sweat-lodge,  and  the  med- 
icine-men go  in  and  take  a  vapor  bath.  They  wash  off  their  medicine 
so  that  they  may  go  safely  among  their  own  people.  They  chant 
four  times  in  this  sweat-lodge,  and  after  that  they  come  out.  After 
the  sweat-lodge  ceremony  is  over,  and  the  tipi  is  uncovered,  then  the 
Medicine-Arrow  ceremonv  is  at  an  end. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  ii 

2.— THE  KEEPER  OF  THE  MEDICINE-ARROWS. 

Next  to  the  Prophet  comes  the  Keeper  of  the  great  medicine- 
arrows,  the  emblem  of  the  whole  Cheyenne  tribe.  The  Keeper  is 
appointed  by  the  Prophet,  or,  sometimes,  by  the  warriors.  He  must 
be  a  medicine-man,  and  one  of  the  assistant  Arrow-Keepers.  He 
must  understand  all  sacred  chants  and  all  rituals  pertaining  to  the 
Medicine- Arrow  ceremony.  Not  only  this,  but  he  must  be  of  ex- 
traordinarily good  character,  a  natural  leader,  and  counselor  of  the 
whole  Cheyenne  tribe,  but  not  necessarily  a  chief.  The  present 
Keeper  of  these  medicine-arrows  is  Little-Man.  He  was  not  a  chief 
at  first,  but  some  ten  years  ago  he  was  appointed  a  chief,  so  at  the 
present  time  he  is  a  Keeper  of  the  medicine-arrows  and  one  of  the 
forty  chiefs  also.  His  family  and  his  tipi  are  held  sacred  because  the 
medicine-arrows  hang  in  his  tipi.  His  tipi  is  called  the  home  of  the  med- 
icine-arrows, and  he  is  the  father  of  them  because  he  cares  for  them. 
He  makes  a  vow  that  he  will  take  good  care  of  them  in  order  to  pre- 
serve them.  In  the  Cheyenne  camp,  which  is  made  in  a  horseshoe 
circle,  the  Keeper's  tipi  stands  out  in  front  of  the  other  tipis  about  one 
hundred  yards  on  the  right  wing  of  the  circle.  No  nuisance  is  allowed 
around  the  Keeper's  tipi  at  any  time.  In  former  times  the  Keeper's 
wife  walked  and  carried  the  medicine-arrow  bundle  on  her  back  when 
the  Cheyenne  were  traveling.  Later  on,  after  the  white  man  came 
to  this  country  with  horses,  she  rode  on  horseback,  but  still  had  the 
bundle  tied  on  her  back.  The  Keeper  as  a  medicine-man  does  not 
have  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony,  if  he  can  get  another  medi- 
cine-man to  assist  him.  If  a  Keeper  of  the  medicine-arrows  does 
not  give  satisfaction,  then  all  the  warriors  come  together  and  hold  a 
council,  and  appoint  another  Keeper.  They  go  in  a  body  and  get 
the  bundle  and  give  it  to  the  man  they  have  appointed. 

3.— THE   FOUR  ASSISTANT  MEDICINE-ARROW   KEEPERS. 

The  medicine-arrow  Keeper  has  four  regular  assistants.  These 
four  assistants  are  the  only  ones  who  may  handle  the  arrows.  All 
other  medicine-men  have  to  reach  this  degree.  Whenever  the  regular 
annual  Medicine- Arrow  ceremony  takes  place,  and  when  the  medicine- 
arrows  have  been  brought  into  the  sacred  lodge,  these  four  men  are 
there  to  inspect  the  four  medicine-arrows.  If  any  of  the  eagle  feathers 
that  are  on  the  arrows  need  renewing  these  four  assistants  are  the 
ones  to  do  the  work.  The  feathers  are  from  the  eagle.  Every  other 
article  used  on  the  great  medicine-arrows  comes  from  the  buffalo,  the 


la       In  id  Columbian  Museum — Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

glue,  the  sinew,  and  the  paint,  which  is  made  from  the  buffalo  blood. 
In  order  to  comply  with  the  original  Prophet's  requirements,  to  use 
buffalo  sinew,  glue,  and  blood  on  these  great  medicine-arrows,  the 
Cheyenne  have  this  day  in  their  possession  from  eight  to  ten  pounds 
of  dried  buffalo  blood,  four  to  five  pounds  of  buffalo  glue,  and  about 
forty  pieces  of  buffalo  sinew.  These  are  to  be  used  by  these  four 
men  only,  and  only  in  the  Medicine-Arrow  ceremony  and  no  where  else. 

4.— THK  MEDICINE-MEN. 

The  medicine-men  come  next  in  order.  These  men  are  all  doctors 
who  give  medicine  to  the  sick.  They  usually  have  contributed 
many  ponies  or  goods  to  the  arrow  ceremony.  They  contribute 
toward  this  worship  in  order  to  be  taught  how  to  perform  certain  parts 
of  the  Medicine-Arrow  ceremony.  If  any  one  of  these  men  has  been 
loyal  and  has  a  good  memory  and  has  contributed  more  than  the 
other  men,  he  will  some  day  be  appointed  as  one  of  the  assistant 
Keepers  of  the  sacred  arrows.  There  are  thirty  to  forty  of  these 
medicine-men,  representing  different  bands  of  Cheyenne.  They  are 
usually  old  men,  and  are  the  only  ones  who  can  go  inside  the  great 
Medicine- Arrow  lodge  and  assist  the  Arrow-Keeper  and  his  four  assis- 
tants to  perform  the  ceremony  the  way  the  original  Prophet  taught 
them.  These  men,  the  Arrow-Keeper,  his  assistants,  and  the  Prophet 
are  the  only  ones  allowed  to  perform  this  great  Medicine-Arrow 
ceremony. 

5.— THE  FOUR  EX-CHIEFS  AND  THE   FORTY  CHIEFS. 

When  the  chiefs  have  become  old,  and  weary  and  worn,  and  realize 
that  they  cannot  live  much  longer  they  hold  council  and  select  a 
place  and  date,  and  send  messengers  to  the  different  bands  to  invite 
even'  one  to  come  to  the  place  where  all  the  Cheyenne  people  must 
gather  to  have  new  chiefs  appointed.  When  the  Cheyenne  have 
assembled  in  a  circular  camp,  a  large  lodge  is  put  up  in  the  center  of 
the  circle  facing  the  opening  of  the  camp.  See  Plate  II.  This  lodge 
is  similar  to  the  Medicine-Arrow  lodge.  It  has  from  forty  to  fifty  poles 
and  two  tipi  covers  are  used.  It  is  twice  as  lafge  as  a  good-sized  Chey- 
enne tipi.  After  it  is  put  up,  the  ground  inside  is  made  smooth  and 
all  weeds  and  grass  are  removed.  Then  all  the  old  chiefs  come  to  this 
lodge  to  hold  council.  They  sit  in  a  circle  about  the  inside  of  the  lodge. 
After  they  are  seated  they  send  for  the  forty  sticks  that  are  tied 
in  a  bundle  and    kept    by  the    medicine-arrow    Keeper,    fastened 


Pl.  II.   The  Election  of  Chiefs-Camp-Circle. 


FIELD   COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   PL.   II. 


THE  44-CHEYEN/iE  CHIEFS  SACRED  LODGE  - 
ERECTED  TflE  PAV  TMEY  APPOI/1T  MEW  CHIEFS 


>A"^1 


or  SCAB 


©V 


e^1 


PltlO   COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM 


ANTHROPOLOGY.   PL.  III. 


v 


-§^ja  fit  W- 


*«£  TOUR  ASSISTANT* 
^^O'C/Nt   ARROW    ^tn 


1  THE  ANCIENT  MAGICIAN 

2  THE  PROPHET 


4  THE  5VN  DANCE  PRIEST 
3   THE  ANIMAL  DANCE  PRIE5T 


Pl.  III.    Diagram  of  Chiefs'  Lodge. 


HELD  COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  PL.  IV. 


•if, -f^if 


RtPRlSlNTiMG  Tut  TMIRO  om  SCABBY  BANO 
BLTT  SEATED  LAST  IN  Tut  LOOCt 


Pl.  IV.    Diagram  of  Chiefs*  Lodge. 


FIELD   COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY.   PL.   V. 


C^rRo*Thtsc^v 


^v 


Pl.  V.    Diagram  of  Chiefs'  Lodge. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  13 

on  the  medicine-arrow  bundle.  These  sticks  are  about  eighteen 
inches  long  by  one-half  inch  in  diameter,  pointed  at  one  end  so  that 
they  may  be  put  into  the  ground.  Every  stick  is  painted  red.  They 
are  called  "chief  sticks." 

After  they  take  this  bundle  of  "chief  sticks"  into  the  chief's 
lodge  and  place  it  in  the  center,  the  lodge  becomes  sacred.  The  old 
chiefs  seat  themselves  again  inside  the  lodge  and  direct  the  four 
assistant  Arrow-Keepers  to  open  the  chief's  bundle  and  take  the 
sticks  out.  These  four  men  sit  at  the  front  inside  of  the  lodge. 
They  take  each  red  stick  and  name  it  to  represent  one  of  the  new 
chiefs.  They  stand  these  in  a  row,  first  in  front  of  the  four  medi- 
cine-men. See  Plate  III.  When  they  place  these  in  the  ground 
in  a  row,  then  all  of  the  old  chiefs  elect  five  good  men  to  represent  the 
five  bands  of  Cheyenne  whose  camps  come  in  this  order  in  the  circle, 
beginning  at  the  right  end  of  the  circle,  see  Plate  IV.,  as  follows: 
Aorta  band,  Hairy-Men  band,  Scabby  band,  Half-Cheyenne  band, 
Dog-Men  band.  The  old  chiefs  proceed  to  the  first  or  Aorta  band. 
They  get  their  man  and  bring  him  direct  to  the  lodge  in  the  center 
of  the  circle.  They  take  him  into  the  lodge  and  place  him  at  the 
right  end  of  the  council  circle  which  represents  the  whole  camp. 
After  he  is  seated  they  take  one  of  the  red  sticks  and  stand  it  up 
directly  in  front  of  him.  See  Plate  V.  All  the  old  chiefs  go 
out  together  to  get  these  new  chiefs,  except  the  four  medicine-men, 
who  give  them  directions.  They  proceed  to  get  the  next  man  from 
the  Hairy-Men's  band,  but  when  he  goes  into  the  lodge  he  is  seated 
about  two-fifths  of  the  distance  from  the  Aorta  man  on  the  same 
side  of  the  circle.  They  also  put  one  red  stick  into  the  ground 
in  front  of  this  man.  Then  they  omit  the  third  or  Scabby  band. 
They  proceed  to  the  fourth  or  Half-Cheyenne  band  and  get  a  man 
from  that  band  and  bring  him  and  place  him  opposite  the  second 
man,  the  representative  of  the  Hairy-Men's  band,  in  the  lodge. 
They  also  put  up  a  red  stick  in  front  of  him.  Then  they  go  out  to 
the  fifth  or  Dog-Men  band,  select  a  man  and  bring  him  to  the  lodge. 
They  take  him  in  and  place  him  at  the  left  end  of  the  council  circle 
opposite  the  first  or  Aorta  man.  They  also  put  a  red  stick  into  the 
ground  in  front  of  him.  Then  they  go  to  the  third  or  Scabby  band. 
After  they  get  a  man  from  this  band  they  bring  him  to  the  lodge  and 
take  him  inside  and  place  him  between  the  representative  of  the 
Hairy-Men's  band  and  the  Half-Cheyenne  band;  thus  he  sits  oppo- 
site the  door  or  entrance  of  the  lodge.  They  also  put  up  a  red 
stick  in  front  of  him.  After  these  five  men,  who  represent  the 
five  bands,  are  seated,  all   the  old  chiefs,  except  the  four  medicine- 


14       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

men,  go  in  a  body  to  get  the  rest  of  the  thirty-five  new  chiefs 
whom  they  have  decided  upon  beforehand.  They  begin  at  the 
right  end  of  the  circle  and  pick  out  those  whom  they  have  already 
appointed  before  going  out.  They  go  around  the  whole  camp. 
These  old  chiefs  make  this  trip  four  times  around  the  camp,  each 
time  bringing  a  certain  number  of  chiefs.  The  fourth  time  they 
go  around  they  get  the  last  of  the  required  number  of  forty  chiefs. 
The  four  medicine-men  who  stay  in  the  lodge  put  up  a  red  stick  in 
front  of  each  man  as  he  comes  in.  Each  new  chief  takes  a  seat  inside 
of  the  lodge  corresponding  to  the  position  of  his  camp  or  band  in 
the  camp-circle.  If  a  new  chief's  band  is  located  on  the  right  end 
of  the  circle  then  he  must  sit  on  the  right  end  of  the  council  circle 
inside  of  the  chief's  lodge.  After  the  old-time  chiefs  have  all  the 
newly  elected  chiefs  seated  in  the  lodge,  they  smoke  the  chief's  pipe. 
After  this,  one  of  the  four  medicine-men,  the  old-time  prophet, 
addresses  the  newly  appointed  forty  chiefs.  He  says  something  like 
this:  "Now,  you  who  are  here  have  been  appointed  as  chiefs  to  look 
after  the  welfare  of  all  men,  women,  and  children,  but  in  order  to 
carry  yourselves  in  an  orderly  manner,  you,  new  chiefs,  must  select 
four  men  from  among  these  old-time  chiefs  to  be  your  counselors 
and  leaders.  These  four  ex-chiefs  that  you  will  appoint  will  be  your 
advisers."  Then  the  forty  new  chiefs  appoint  four  ex-chiefs  from 
among  the  old-time  chiefs  whom  they  think  or  know  will  lead  them 
aright.  These  four  ex-chiefs  are  generally  medicine-men.  The  forty 
new  chiefs  look  to  these  four  old  chiefs.  Then  the  two  medicine-men 
from  the  four  medicine-men  address  the  forty -four  chiefs  like  this: 
"Now,  listen  to  me!  When  the  old  chiefs  wore  out,  they  appointed 
you  to  carry  on  their  leadership.  We,  who  are  here  representing  the 
sacred  magicians  of  old  and  the  sacred  arrows  and  the  sacred  sun. 
earth  and  animals,  have  this  day  advised  you  and  placed  every  man, 
woman,  and  child  of  the  Cheyenne  tribe  in  your  care.  When  it  is 
necessary  you  will  help  not  only  your  own  tribe,  but  all  other  Indians. 
You  have  been  appointed  on  account  of  your  bravery,  character,  and 
courage.  In  the  future  you  will  cause  no  disturbance  or  help  to 
cause  a  disturbance  among  your  own  people.  If  another  member  of 
the  tribe  kills  your  own  brother,  take  your  pipe  and  smoke  it  to  the 
(ireat  Medicine,  and  you  will  prevent  disturbance.  Do  not  notice 
your  brother's  murderer.  If  your  young  men  look  despairing  and 
lonely,  take  your  pipe  and  pledge  yourself  to  perform  the  great  Medi- 
cine-Arrow ceremony,  in  order  that  the  Great  Medicine  will  bless  you 
and  your  people,  because  of  your  remembrance  of  him." 

Of  these  four  medicine-men,  who  are  also  Medicine-Arrow  keepers. 


FIELD  COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   PL.  VI. 


Pl.  VI.    Warrior's  Shirts. 


Pl.  VII.    War  Bonnets. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  15 

one  is  an  old-time  magician,  the  second  is  the  Prophet,  or  one 
who  has  performed  the  great  Medicine- Arrow  ceremony,  the  third 
is  one  who  understands  all  about  the  Sun-dance,  the  fourth  is  one 
who  has  performed  and  understands  all  about  the  sacred  animal 
ceremony  and  dance.  When  these  four  medicine-men  are  through 
addressing  the  new  chiefs,  then  all  people  come  and  see  them.  The 
new  chiefs  go  out,  give  feasts,  and  give  away  many  presents  to  the 
poor  and  needy  people. 

6.— THE    FIVE    ORIGINAL   WARRIOR   SOCIETIES   OF   THE 
GREAT  PROPHET. 

Before  the  time  of  the  original  great  Prophet,  the  Cheyenne  were 
governed  by  one  chief  and  a  magician  who  assisted  him.  Until  the 
great  Prophet  brought  the  four  great  medicine-arrows  to  the  Cheyenne, 
he  with  his  assistants  exercised  absolute  power  over  them.  The 
Prophet  organized  the  tribe  into  bands,  instituted  the  office  of  chief, 
and  imposed  the  rank  of  warrior  on  all  males  of  fifteen  years  and  more. 
These  warriors  he  grouped  into  five  societies,  who,  with  the  chief, 
were  responsible  for  the  conduct  of  the  tribe.  The  societies  were 
called  the  Red-Shield,  Hoof-Rattle,  Coyote,  Dog-Men's,  and  Inverted 
or  Bow-String.  Each  society  was  formed  by  certain  medicine-men, 
who  had  been  instructed  by  the  original  great  Prophet,  and  each 
society  was  controlled  by  a  chief  with  seven  assistants.  These  were 
appointed  by  the  warriors  for  their  courage  and  bravery  in  battle. 
The  warrior  chiefs  understand  all  of  the  songs  and  their  assistants 
are  councilors  among  the  warriors.  The  warrior  chiefs  finally  become 
chiefs  and  their  assistants  become  war  chiefs.  Should  a  member  of 
any  of  the  five  warrior  societies  distinguish  himself  in  battle  by  the 
performance  of  some  extraordinary  act  in  behalf  of  any  of  his  fellows, 
he  wears  thereafter,  as  a  badge  of  distinction,  a  buckskin  coat  adorned 
with  fringe  of  hair  of  the  enemy.  See  Plate  VI.  The  experienced 
warrior  has  presence  of  mind,  is  ever  on  the  alert,  and  is  brave,  always 
protecting  his  fellows.  He  wears  a  war-bonnet,  which  trails  down 
his  back  to  the  ground,  and  if  he  is  a  distinguished  chief  or  warrior, 
he  decorates  it  with  eagle  feathers  tipped  with  locks  of  human  hair. 
See  Plate  VII.  The  shirt  and  war-bonnet  are  usually  worn  by  the 
seven  assistants  of  the  warrior  societies.  Marks  of  distinction  are 
conferred  upon  those  who  have  been  brave  in  encounters  with  neigh- 
boring tribes  in  open  battles  or  who  have  led  warriors  against  the 
enemy  successfully,  or  who  four  times  have  scalped  an  enemy  alive, 
or  who  have  rescued  one  or  many  times  one  of  his  fellows  who  has  been 


16       Field  Columbian  Museum — Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

left  behind  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy;  but  the  greatest  honor  is 
accorded  to  him  who  leads  his  fellows  to  victory  after  they  have  been 
defeated  by  the  enemy. 

The  paint,  the  dress,  the  songs,  and  the  dances  of  the  members  of 
the  warrior  societies  are,  in  general,  characteristic  for  each  of  the  five 
societies.  Thus  each  society  has  its  four  sacred  songs  sung  to  different 
tunes,  part  with  words  and  part  without  words.  Besides  these  char- 
acteristic songs  there  are  four  sacred  songs  for  the  five  warrior  societies, 
which  are  sung  to  the  Great  Medicine,  and  each  society  has  its  four 
battle  songs,  sung  by  individual  warriors  while  on  the  battle-field  or 
in  concert,  at  a  council  of  warriors.  The  members  of  each  society 
address  each  other  as  "friend"  or  "brother,"  and  they  afford  each 
other  mutual  protection.  When  a  society  desires  to  take  into  its 
membership  a  young  man  they  go  to  him  in  a  body  and  bring  him 
into  their  society. 

The  Red-Shield,  Coyote,  and  Hoof-Rattle  or  Dew-Claw  societies 
admit  into  their  lodge  four  Cheyenne  maidens,  usually  selected  from 
the  daughters  of  the  forty-four  leading  chiefs;  these  maidens  the 
warriors  call  sisters.  The  warriors  are  not  allowed  to  marry  any  of 
the  four  maidens  of  their  own  society,  though  they  may  marry 
the  maidens  of  other  societies.  These  maidens  are  given  prominent 
places  in  all  dances  and  they  sit  in  the  midst  of  the  circle  in  front  of 
the  war  chiefs  in  all  the  councils.  The  two  other  societies  do  not 
admit  women  into  their  lodges.  When  the  great  Prophet  directed 
the  medicine-men  to  establish  the  warrior  societies  he  gave  them  the 
privilege,  at  their  own  risk,  of  admitting  to  their  lodge  four  women, 
chaste  and  clean,  and  from  the  very  best  families.  Misfortune  will 
befall  the  society  who  violates  the  condition.  Fearing  that  through 
deceit  unchaste  women  might  come  into  their  societies,  the  Dog-Men 
and  the  Inverted  or  Bow-String  warriors  do  not  admit  women.  Each 
of  the  existing  societies  continues  to  burn  incense  to  the  Great  Medi- 
cine, in  order  to  remind  him  that  they  are  still  carrying  out  his  instruc- 
tions which  he  gave  to  their  ancient  ancestors  through  the  great 
Prophet. 

7.— THE  RED-SHIELD  WARRIORS. 

The  Red-Shield  society  has  one  chief,  called  "War-chief  of  the 
Red-Shield  Warriors."  He  has  seven  assistant  war-chiefs,  who  are 
officers  and  councilors  of  the  society  and  under  whom  are  from  one 
hundred  to  two  hundred  warriors.  They  select  four  maidens  whom 
they  admit  into  their  society.  These  maidens,  who  are  usually  the 
daughters  of  chiefs,  are  not  permitted  to  marry  any  of  the  members 


Pl.  VIII.    Fig.  1.    Red-Shield  Warrior. 
Fig.  2.    Hoof-Rattle  Warrior. 


March,  1905. 


The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey. 


17 


of  their  society  and  are  called  by  the  warriors  "sisters."  These 
women  occupy  a  place  in  the  center  of  the  council  circle.  When  the 
society  gives  a  dance  in  the  open  air  the  maidens  continuously  dance 
in  front  of  all  the  warriors,  beating  upon  drums  which  they  carry. 
Now  the  men  trot,  now  they  halt,  and  with  bodies  bent  forward  dance 
up  and  down,  moving  around,  and  now  they  hop  and  skip  heavily 
along.  As  they  dance  each  warrior 
utters  a  sort  of  gutteral  sound  like  that 
made  by  a  buffalo  on  the  chase. 

The  emblem  of  the  Red-Shield  so- 
ciety is  the  shield,  which  is  round  like 
the  sun  and  painted  red.  Long  ago  cer- 
tain medicines  were  applied  to  it,  and 
the  warrior  swung  it  in  a  circle  before 
the  enemy,  so  that  the  enemy's  arrows 
would  hit  neither  man  nor  shield.  All 
shields  have  their  origin  in  this  society, 
for  the  shield  was  given  them  by  the 
great  Prophet,  who  also  brought  the 
medicine-arrows  to  the  tribe.  Each 
warrior  of  the  society  carries  a  red 
shield,  as  well  as  a  spear,  hence  the  name 
Red-Shield.  The  shields  are  made  of 
raw  buffalo  hide,  which  is  toughened  by 
being  suspended  over  a  fire  while  it  is 
yet  soft;  then  a  circular  portion  is  cut 
from  the  region  of  the  hip,  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  leave  the  tail,  with  its  hair, 
intact  with  the  circular  piece.  See  Fig.  4. 
The  hair  of  the  circular  portion  is  re- 
moved and  the  skin  is  tanned,  with  the  tail  left  on.  To  test  the 
strength  of  the  hide  for  the  shields,  after  it  is  tanned,  the  warriors 
shoot  arrows  at  it.  If  their  arrows  bound  back  from  the  hide  and 
leave  it  uninjured  the  hide  is  fit  for  use  in  the  shield ;  otherwise,  not. 

Whenever  the  warriors  of  this  society  congregate  for  a  dance  or 
to  hold  a  council  of  war  they  are  dressed  alike.  See  Plate  VIII.  Fig.  1. 
Their  head-dress  consists  of  the  skin,  with  horns  attached,  of  the 
buffalo  head,  taken  generally  from  a  two-year-old.  That  portion  of 
the  skin  lying  between  the  ears  and  connecting  the  horns  is  taken. 
The  horns  are  painted  red,  and  in  full  dress  the  bodies  of  the  members 
are  also  painted  red.  Each  warrior  carries  a  spear  about  eight  feet 
long,  with  stone  point,  originally,  but  with  a  steel  point  later;  the 


Fig.  4.     Shield  of  Red-Shield 
Warrior. 


i8       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

entire  spear  is  painted  red.  The  wearing  of  the  buffalo  skin  with  the 
attached  horns  and  the  shield  from  the  hips,  with  the  tail  attached. 
gave  rise  to  the  name  "buffalo  warriors."  About  their  waists  these 
dancers  wear  a  sort  of  skin  belt  or  skirt,  worked  with  porcupine  quills, 
and  having  buffalo  dew-claws  attached  to  it,  to  produce  a  rattling  sound 
while  dancing.  Along  the  lower  edge  of  the  belt  are  fringes,  some 
of  which  hang  down  below  the  knees.  This  skirt-like  belt  is  worn  by 
every  warrior  of  the  society,  and  is  painted  red. 

8.— THE  HOOF-RATTLE  WARRIORS. 

The  Hoof-Rattle  society  has  one  head  chief  and  seven  assistants 
or  sub-chiefs.  They  have  over  one  hundred  warriors  under  them 
and  four  Cheyenne  maidens.  There  is  a  keeper  of  the  drums  and  a 
keeper  of  the  elk  antler  emblem,  which  is  formed  like  a  rattlesnake. 
Two  of  the  bravest  men  (See  Plate  VIII.  Fig.  2)  carry  spears  with 

crooks    at    one    end,    the 

— __   _  wood  of  the  handle  being 

M===:=:5™M/)/l/)))))lll'iMT^       bent    around    in    a    semi- 

F.G.5.    Hoof-Rattle  Warrior  Musical  circumference.     These  two 

Instrument.  spears     are     wrapped     as 

far  as  the  points  with 
otter  skin.  The  shaft  is  further  ornamented  with  two  bands  of 
otter  skin  about  two  feet  apart,  with  four  pendants  of  eagle 
feathers  attached  to  each  band  for  ornamentation.  The  spears  are 
about  eight  feet  long.  All  of  the  other  warriors  carry  straight  spears 
with  points,  wrapped  with  otter  skin  which  has  been  dressed  on  the 
outside.  Each  warrior  carries  a  rattle.  This  rattle  is  a  stick  about 
one  foot  long,  covered  with  tanned  buckskin,  to  which  are  sewed  or 
tied  several  dry  dew-claws  of  elk,  deer,  or  antelope.  The  keeper  of 
the  elk  horn  is  the  leader  in  the  dancing  and  singing.  The  elk 
antler  used  by  these  warriors  is  real.  It  is  straight  and  has  a  body 
about  two  inches  thick  and  about  eighteen  inches  long.  It  has 
a  head  and  a  tail.  It  is  fashioned  like  a  snake.  On  the  top  of  the 
snake's  back  are  grooves  cut  about  half  an  inch  apart.  See  Fig.  5. 
When  used  for  singing  and  dancing  they  put  one  end  of  this  antler 
snake  on  top  of  a  piece  of  rawhide  and  hold  the  snake's  tail  in  the 
left  hand  and  with  the  right  hand  they  hold  the  shin  bone  of  an  ante- 
lope and  rub  it  backwards  and  forwards  over  the  snake's  back,  thus 
producing  a  loud,  shrill  sound  like  that  of  some  animal.  They  have 
four  sacred  songs,  four  war  songs,  and  about  two  hundred  dance 
songs.     One  hundred  or  more  warriors  sing  in  unison  with  the  time 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Doksey.  19 

of  the  rubbing  on  the  elk  antler,  thus  making  themselves  heard  for  a 
long  distance.  According  to  the  teachings  of  the  great  Prophet  this 
antler  was  used  to  charm  the  buffalo.  Whenever  the  tribe  desired 
large  herds  of  buffalo,  elk,  or  deer  to  come  near  their  camp  the  war- 
riors would  come  together  and  chew  the  herb  medicine  used  in  all  the 
sacred  arrow  ceremonies  and  blow  it  upon  the  elk  antler  to  make  it 
effective.  Then  the  keeper  would  hold  the  snake  effigy  by  the  tail 
and  draw  the  scapula  toward  himself  so  that  the  motion  was  made 
from  the  head  to  the  tail.  Having  four  times  made  this  motion  the 
buffalo  and  deer  would  be  charmed  and  come  to  them.  All  the  ante- 
lope and  deer  thus  affected  were  killed  and  their  dew-claws  taken 
for  making  rattles  for  the  warriors'. 

Aside  from  the  rattles,  spears,  bows  and  arrows,  individuals  satisfy 
their  own  desires  in  the  matter  of  dress.  All  the  warriors  of  the 
various  societies  hold  as  sacred  the  elk  antler.  When  dancing,  the 
Hoof-Rattlers  hold  their  spears  in  one  hand  and  their  body  erect. 
They  jump  up  and  down,  keeping  time  with  the  singing  and  rattle. 

9.— THE  COYOTE  WARRIORS. 

The  Coyote  society  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  its  mem- 
bers imitate  the  coyote  in  their  power  of  endurance,  cunning,  and 
activity.  They  outstrip  their  fellow-tribesmen  in  running  long  dis- 
tances, playing  games,  etc.  There  are  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
warriors  in  this  society,  and  a  head  chief,  who  carries  a  coyote  hide 
with  the  hair  left  on.  The  society  regards  this  hide  as  sacred.  Having 
put  their  medicine  on  the  coyote  hide  as  well  as  on  themselves,  these 
warriors  feel  light,  and  can  endure  and  can  run  a  long  distance  with- 
out stopping.  The  society  has  a  rattle-keeper,  who  carries  a  red- 
painted  gourd  with  stones  inside  to  make  the  rattling.  In  old  times 
this  rattle  was  made  out  of  buffalo  hide,  but  lately  the  gourd  has 
taken  its  place.  This  rattle  is  used  to  mark  time  in  the  dancing 
and  singing,  and  its  keeper  is  the  leader  in  the  dancing  and  singing, 
and  he  knows  all  the  songs.  The  society  has  four  sacred  songs,  part 
of  which  relate  to  .the  coyote ;  four  war  songs,  and  about  three  hundred 
dance  songs. 

When  these  warriors  have  a  four  days'  dance  they  put  up  their 
lodge  either  in  the  center  or  in  front  of  the  camp-circle,  and  just 
within  the  interior  of  the  lodge  the  coyote  hide  is  placed  so  that 
its  head  is  directed  toward  the  entrance.  The  chief  with  his  assistants 
sit  back  of  the  coyote  hide.  When  in  view,  this  coyote  hide  is  placed 
in  front  of  the  chiefs  in  the  council  circle.     The  four  maidens  who  are 


ao       Fiblo  Columbian  Museum-— Anthropology,  Vol,  IX. 

admitted  t«»  this  society,  sit  in  front  of  the  chiefs.  Two  of  the  warriors 
carry  a  spear  about  an  inch  and  a  half  wide.  Between  its  ends 
is  stretched  a  string,  which  gives  the  spear  the  form  of  a  bow.  Several 
kinds  of  feathers  hang  from  the  spear,  and  it  has  a  sharp  point.  See 
Plate  IX.  Fig.  i.  The  other  warriors  carry  straight  spears.  Each 
warrior  has  two  eagle  feathers  stuck  vertically  in  his  scalplock,  and 
carries  a  bow  and  arrows.  All  members  of  the  society  dress  alike. 
Their  bodies  and  upper  parts  of  their  arms  and  legs  are  painted  yellow, 
while  the  lower  arms  and  legs  are  painted  black.  On  the  breast  of 
each  warrior,  suspended  by  means  of  a  string  about  the  neck,  is  a 
crescent-shaped,  black-painted  piece  of  hide.  The  two  eagle  feathers 
in  the  hair  are  always  worn  and  the  spear  is  always  carried  in  their 
hand  when  they  are  not  abroad.  When  dancing  these  warriors  jump 
up  and  down  rapidly,  keeping  time  to  the  rapid  and  ever-increasing 
time  of  the  music.  The  four  maidens,  who  are  daughters  of  chiefs, 
decorate  their  dress  with  elk  teeth.  Their  faces  are  painted  yellow 
and  they  wear  two  eagle  feathers  upright  in  their  hair. 

In  the  past  the  warriors  of  this  society  had  their  hair  roached  over 
the  top  from  front  to  back  to  represent  a  scalplock,  the  sides  of  the 
head  being*  shorn  of  hair.  All  members  of  the  other  societies  wore 
their  hair  long.  The  coyote  hide  is  the  emblem  of  this  society,  for 
in  a  similar  skin  the  great  Prophet  brought  the  medicine-arrows  to  the 
tribe.  The  coyote  was  the  animal  that  the  great  Spirit  sent  to  wander 
over  the  earth,  and  he  was  one  of  the  animals  that,  in  early  times, 
talked  to  men. 

10.— THE  DOG-MEN  WARRIORS. 

The  Dog-Men  society,  termed  by  the  white  men  "Dog-Soldier" 
society,  is  the  largest  society  among  the  Cheyenne.  It  is  made  up  of 
males  of  fifteen  years  and  more,  and  numbers  one-half  of  the  males  of 
the  entire  Cheyenne  tribe.  This  society  once  controlled  the  whole 
tribe.  Its  members  were  raiders,  and  formerly  they  roamed  over  the 
plains  between  the  Missouri  and  the  Arkansas  rivers  with  the  upper 
Platte  River  in  Nebraska  as  their  headquarters.  The  society  has  one 
chief  and  seven  assistants,  and  several  hundred  warriors.  Of 
these  the  four  bravest  are  chosen  to  protect  the  society  and  the 
tribe  from  the  raids  of  the  enemy.  These  four  braves  wear  over  their 
left  shoulder  and  trailing  down  their  backs  to  the  ground,  a  piece  of 
skin  twelve  inches  wide  and  eight  feet  long,  decorated  with  porcu- 
pine quills  and  eagle  feathers.  The  quill  work  of  two  of  these 
streamers  is  in  bright  colors  with  rows  of  eagle  feathers  hanging  over 


Pl.  IX.    Fig.  1.    Coyote  Warrior. 
Fig.  2.    Dog-Men  Warrior. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne — Dorsey.  21 

the  quill  work.  These  scarfs  are  worn  by  the  two  most  daring 
braves  of  the  society,  who  have  reached  a  certain  rank  in  the  society. 
These  two  also  adorn  their  leggins  with  human  hair.  See  Plate  IX. 
Fig.  2.  The  two  other  scarfs  are  narrower  and  have  less  quill 
work  on  them.  They  also  have  eagle  feathers,  but  the  two  warriors 
who  wear  these  do  not  adorn  their  leggins  with  human  hair,  for  they 
are  not  as  brave  as  the  former  two.  These  four  warriors  when  at  war 
are  expected  to  protect  their  fellows,  and  if  need  be,  die  for  them. 
The  warriors  of  this  society  are  appointed  to  this  degree  after  having 
performed  a  certain  number  of  brave  deeds.  After  their  death,  others 
have  to  take  their  places. 

All  the  warriors  of  this  society  dress  alike.  Their  head-dress  con- 
sists of  a  cap  with  a  few  beads  worked  over  the  front  edge.  The 
crown  is  covered  entirely  with  tail  feathers  of  the  eagle,  and 
the  sides  are  covered  with  the  feathers  of  the  hawk  and  crow. 
The  feathers  are  so  fastened  that  they  stand  erect  all  over  the  head- 
dress. Suspended  by  a  string  around  the  neck  of  each  warrior  is  a 
whistle  of  the  wing  bone  of  an  eagle,  which  they  blow  while  dancing. 
The  whistle  and  string  are  ornamented  with  porcupine  quills.  Each 
warrior  wears  a  rattle  fashioned  in  the  form  of  a  snake.  The  body  of 
the  rattle  consists  of  a  round  stick  about  a  foot  long,  and  one  and  a 
half  inches  in  diameter.  It  is  covered  with  a  narrow  strip  of  rawhide 
about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  wide,  into  the  ends  of  which  are 
inserted  the  head  and  tailpieces,  the  headpiece  extending  out  from 
the  end  of  the  body  about  two  inches.  The  rawhide  is  then  bound  on 
the  stick,  and  the  whole,  excepting  the  head,  which  is  painted  red,  is 
covered  with  buckskin.  Eyes  are  made  in  the  head,  and  an  eagle 
feather  is  attached.  Over  the  entire  body  of  the  figure  are  tied  rows 
of  the  dew-claws  of  deer  or  antelope.  All  portions  of  the  body 
remaining  exposed  are  decorated  with  quil1  work.  The  length  of 
this  rattle  is  about  two  and  a  half  feet.  Grasping  these  rattles 
by  the  head  with  their  right  hand  they  shake  them  and  measure  the 
time  of  their  dancing  and  singing.  The  belt  worn  in  the  dance  con- 
sists of  four  skunk  skins  prepared  with  the  heads  left  intact,  two 
heads  meeting  in  front  and  two  at  the  back.  The  fur  is  left  on  the 
skin,  and  on  this  side  are  attached  fringes  to  which  are  hung  dew- 
claws  throughout. 

These  warriors  carry  a  bow  and  arrows.  When  they  dance  they 
move  forward  in  a  stooping  position  rapidly,  bending  each  leg  forward 
alternately.  This  society  has  between  five  and  six  hundred  songs, 
exclusive  of  their  four  sacred  songs  and  four  war  songs.  The  society 
emblem  is  the  dog,  which  they  regard  as  sacred,  and  which  they  asso- 


22       1'ii.i.d  Columbian  Museum      AjctHaopoLOGY,  Vol.  IX. 

te  with  the  origin  of  the  society.  The  society  regards  itself  as  dis- 
tinguished ami  influential.  The  whole  tribe,  and  neighboring  tribes, 
as  well,  recognize  its  importance.  In  former  times  this  society  was 
distinguished  for  the  great  number  of  captives  it  held.  Indeed,  the 
old-time  warriors  claim  that  three-fourths  of  the  entire  Cheyenne 
tribe  were  captives. 

The  Dog-Men  society  was  organized  after  the  organization  of  the 
other  societies,  by  a  young  man  without  influence  but  who  was  chosen 
by  the  great  Prophet.  One  morning  the  young  man  went  through  the 
entire  camp  and  to  the  center  of  the  camp-circle,  announcing  that 
he  was  about  to  form  a  society.  No  one  was  anxious  to  join  him,  so 
he  was  alone  all  that  day.  The  other  medicine-men  had  had  no 
difficulty  in  establishing  their  societies,  but  this  young  man,  when 
his  turn  came  to  organize,  was  ridiculed;  for  he  was  not  a  medicine- 
man, and  had  no  influence  to  induce  others  to  follow  his  leadership.  A  t 
evening  he  was  sad,  and  he  sat  in  the  midst  of  the  whole  camp.  He 
prayed  to  the  Great  Prophet  and  the  Great  Medicine  to  assist  him.  At 
sunset  he  began  to  sing  a  sacred  song.  While  he  sang  the  people  noticed 
that  now  and  then  the  large  and  small  dogs  throughout  the  camp 
whined  and  howled  and  were  restless.  The  people  in  their  lodges  fell 
asleep.  The  man  sang  from  sunset  to  midnight:  then  he  began  to  wail. 
The  people  were  all  sleeping  in  their  lodges  and  did  not  hear  him.  Again 
he  sang:  then  he  walked  out  to  the  opening  of  the  camp-circle,  singing 
as  he  went.  At  the  opening  of  the  camp-circle  he  ceased  singing  and 
went  out.  All  the  dogs  from  the  whole  camp  followed  him,  both 
male  and  female,  some  carrying  in  their  mouths  their  puppies.  Four 
times  he  sang  before  he  reached  his  destination  at  daybreak.  As  the 
sun  rose  he  and  all  of  the  dogs  arrived  at  a  river  bottom  which  was 
partly  timbered  and  level.  The  man  sat  down  by  a  tree  that  leaned 
toward  the  north.  Immediately  the  dogs  ran  from  him  and  arranged 
themselves  in  the  form  of  a  semicircle  about  him,  like  the  shape  of  the 
camp-circle  they  had  left;  then  they  lay  down  to  rest;  as  the  dogs  lay 
down,  by  some  mysterious  power,  there  sprang  up  over  the  man  in  the 
center  of  the  circle  a  lodge.  The  lodge  included  the  leaning  tree  by 
which  the  man  sat;  and  there  were  three  other  saplings,  trimmed  at 
the  base  with  the  boughs  left  on  at  the  top.  The  lodge  was  formed  of 
the  skins  of  the  buffalo.  As  soon  as  the  lodge  appeared  all  the  dogs 
rushed  towards  it.  As  they  entered  the  lodge  they  turned  into  human 
beings,  dressed  like  the  members  of  the  Dog-Men  society.  The  Dog- 
Men  began  to  sing,  and  the  man  listened  very  attentively  and  learned 
several  songs  from  them,  their  ceremony,  and  their  dancing  forms. 
The  camp-circle  and  the  center  lodge  had  the  appearance  of  a  real 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  23 

camp-circle  for  three  long  days.  The  Dog-Men  blessed  the  man  and 
promised  that  he  should  be  successful  in  all  of  his  undertakings  and 
that  his  people,  his  society,  and  his  band  would  become  the  greatest 
of  all  if  he  carried  out  their  instructions.  On  the  fourth  day  they  were 
discovered  by  two  Cheyenne,  who  were  looking  for  the  man  and  for 
their  dogs  of  burden.  They  observed  the  form  of  the  circle  and  the 
lodge  within  and  saw  that  it  was  like  the  camp-circle  of  their  tribe. 
They  went  so  near  that  within  they  heard  their  own  language  spoken. 
They  did  not  enter  the  lodge,  but  hurriedly  returned  to  their  people, 
to  tell  them  what  they  had  seen.  On  the  day  after  the  first  dis- 
appearance of  the  man  and  the  dogs,  the  medicine-men  counseled 
with  the  great  Prophet,  who  knew  all  about  it.  The  great  Prophet 
told  the  medicine-men  that  the  man  was  obeying  his  commands,  and 
that  this,  the  fourth  day,  they  might  find  him  with  the  dogs.  The  two 
Cheyenne,  who  had  hunted  four  days  before  finding  the  new  camp, 
returned  on  this  day,  and  when  they  announced  to  the  people  what 
they  had  seen,  the  whole  camp  moved  to  the  lodge  of  the  man  and 
the  dogs.  As  they  came  into  view  of  the  wonderful  camp  the  Dog 
lodge  instantly  disappeared  and  the  Dog-Men  were  transformed  into 
dogs.  The  medicine-men  and  warriors  were  by  this  time  very  sorry 
that  they  had  refused  to  join  this  man's  society.  To  express  their 
sorrow  they  went  in  advance  to  the  young  man,  and  asked  him  to  have 
mercy  upon  them  and  forgive  the  whole  tribe  for  its  treatment  of  him. 
The  young  man  took  the  pipe  and  smoked,  to  show  that  he  had  for- 
given his  people.  The  young  man  then  instructed  them  to  go  to 
their  own  dogs  and  pitch  their  tipis  according  to  the  position  of  their 
dogs,  so  that  they  would  make  a  horseshoe-shaped  camp,  just  as  the 
dogs  had  made.  Every  man  became  busy  and  the  dogs  alone  seemed 
to  be  very  indifferent  as  to  what  was  happening.  The  young  man 
still  remained  in  the  center  of  the  camp,  and  the  next  day,  according  to 
his  instructions  from  the  Great  Prophet,  he  again  asked  the  warriors 
to  join  his  society,  and  many  hundreds  of  men  joined  it.  He 
directed  the  society  to  imitate  the  Dog-Men's  dress,  and  to  sing  the 
way  the  Dog-Men  sang.  This  is  why  the  other  warrior  societies  call 
the  warriors  of  this  society  "Dog-Men  Warriors." 

When  the  Dog-Men  society  has  its  four  days'  lodge  put  up  for  a 
dance,  they  repair  their  head-dresses,  reorganize  all  the  warriors,  and 
should  one  of  the  four  brave  warriors  have  died  or  been  killed  by  the 
enemy,  they  name  some  one  to  take  his  place.  When  the  other  warrior 
societies  put  up  their  lodges  to  dance  or  for  reorganization,  they  must 
place  their  lodges  in  the  center  of  the  camp-circle;  but  the  Dog-Men 
warriors  may  locate  their  lodge  in  the  center  of  the  circle  or  at  any  big 


34       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

camp  not  in  a  circle,  as  they  may  desire,  provided  they  can  find  a  tree 
that  leans  toward  the  north  to  which  they  can  tie  the  three  saplings 
for  the  erection  of  their  lodge.  The  lodge  is  so  constructed  that  the 
stationary  tree  is  placed  at  the  back,  on  the  inside  and  opposite  the 
entrance.  The  three  movable  saplings  are  trimmed  as  far  up  as  the 
upper  branches,  which  are  left.  Formerly,  buffalo  hides  were  used 
for  a  covering  for  the  lodge,  but  recently  canvas  is  substituted.  The 
poles  of  the  Dog-Men's  lodge  are  different  from  those  of  the  other 
societies'  lodges.  The  other  societies  burn  incense  to  the  Great 
Medicine,  who  sent  the  Great  Prophet  to  establish  their  societies  and 
to  establish  ceremonies  in  honor  of  himself.  But  instead  of  burning 
incense,  the  Dog-Men  put  in  the  center  of  their  lodge  an  earthen  pot 
about  half  full  of  water,  and  into  this  they  put  a  piece  of  beef  weighing 
about  two  pounds,  which  remains  there  during  the  four  days'  dance. 
On  the  fourth  day  and  before  the  dance  is  dismissed,  they  take  the 
meat  from  the  pot  and  pass  it  around  to  the  members  of  the  society ; 
each  one  bites  off  a  large  piece,  chews,  and  swallows  it.  This  they  do 
in  memory  of  their  society's  founder,  and  in  memory  of  the  original 
dogs  who  followed  the  founder  out  from  the  camp-circle  and  induced 
the  warriors  to  organize  the  Dog-Men  society.  Ever  after  this  all 
the  original  dogs  preferred  cooked  to  fresh  beef. 

ii.— THE  INVERTED  OR  BOW-STRING  WARRIORS. 

The  Inverted  Warrior  society  is  but  little  known  throughout  the 
tribe,  although  it  is  the  fifth  of  the  warrior  societies  founded  by  the 
Great  Prophet.  It  was  founded  when  he  last  appeared  in  the  dress 
of  the  Inverted  Warrior  with  his  celebrated  bow-spear,  and  a  stuffed 
owl  tied  over  his  forehead  for  a  head-dress,  and  a  bone  whistle  tied 
around  his  neck  by  means  of  a  string.  See  Plate  X.  Fig.  i.  This 
society  the  great  Prophet  founded  on  his  return  after  his  four  years' 
absence  to  the  mountain ;  but  the  society  was  without  a  chief.  Each 
warrior  was  independent  of  the  rest,  though  all  the  warriors  dressed 
alike  and  were  always  prepared  for  war. 

The  warriors  must  be  of  strong  physique  and  very  courageous. 
A  part  of  the  requirements  of  the  society  is  that  these  warriors  shall 
be  solemn  and  stoical.  Their  bodies  and  clothing  are  always  painted 
red,  as  well  as  their  buffalo  robes.  See  Plate  X.  Fig.  2.  Each 
warrior  carries  a  bow-spear  about  eight  feet  long — a  perfectly  sound, 
straight,  well-seasoned  stick  fashioned  after  the  style  of  a  bow.  This 
bow-spear  is  flat  on  the  front  side  and  round  on  the  back  side,  there 
being  a  space  in  the  middle  for  a  handle,  which  is  round.     This  bow 


Pl.  X.    Fig.  1.    Inverted  or  Bow-String  Warrior. 
Fig.  2.    Inverted  or  Bow-String  Warrior. 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  25 

is  two  inches  wide  at  the  handle  and  one  and  a  half  inches  at  the 
ends.  Its  buffalo  sinew  string  is  one-third  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
When  the  bow-string  is  drawn  the  bow  itself  is  bent  scarcely  at  all. 
At  the  handle  is  tightly  bound  a  bunch  of  sage  grass.  At  one  end  is 
a  sharp  flint  spearhead,  about  six  inches  long.  Recently  steel  points 
have  been  substituted.  Attached  to  the  other  end  of  the  bow,  which 
is  pointed,  are  a  few  owl  feathers.  Suspended  from  the  sides  of  the 
bow  are  four  bunches  of  magpie  feathers,  two  on  either  side,  for 
ornamentation.  The  bow  is  painted  red,  and  the  spearhead  proper 
is  painted  blue.  This  bow-spear  is  never  unstrung.  It  is  wrapped 
with  buckskin  when  not  in  use,  though  it  is  always  present  with  the 
warriors,  wherever  they  go.  Should  they  fail  to  take  it  with  them 
at  any  time  it  is  hung  in  a  tree  for  safety,  or  some  place  where  it 
could  not  be  found  by  any  one.  No  one  except  the  members  of  the 
society  are  allowed  to  touch  or  handle  the  spear;  nor  are  any 
women  allowed  to  touch  it.  The  warriors  of  the  society  are  unmar- 
ried. The  women  have  their  beds  apart  from  those  of  the  warrior;;. 
Their  food  is  cooked  separately  at  home,  and  is  served  separately. 
Should  they  be  in  council  with  other  society  warriors  their  food 
is  served  separately.  The  close  observance  of  the  regulations  of 
this  society  by  its  members  gives  them  a  character  distinct  from 
that  of  the  other  societies,  and  they  are  regarded  as  pure.  They 
rejoice  in  the  beauty  of  nature  as  the  work  of  the  Great  Medicine, 
who  created  the  rivers,  hills,  mountains,  heavenly  bodies,  and  the 
clouds.     They  are  the  philosophers  among  their  people. 

The  following  is  an  explanation  of  the  term  "Inverted  Warriors." 
A  medicine  still  in  use  among  the  Cheyenne  is  used  by  these  warriors, 
by  means  of  which  their  actions  and  speech  are  inverted;  for  in- 
stance, the  members  of  other  societies  ask  a  question  thus:  "Father, 
will  you  come  here?"  but  the  members  of  this  society  ask  the  question 
thus:  "Father,  you  will  not  come  here?"  When  the  warriors  of 
other  societies  are  all  defeated  in  battle  and  run  from  the  enemy,  the 
Inverted  Warriors  blow  their  whistles  and  charge  the  enemy  and  fight 
until  they  are  killed  or  defeat  the  enemy,  regardless  of  the  numbers 
of  the  enemy.  They  usually  are  naked  when  fighting  in  battle. 
Their  bodies  are  painted  red.  On  top  of  their  heads  is  a  stuffed 
screech-owl.  They  carry  their  bow-spears  with  them.  No  one  is 
allowed  to  pass  in  front  of  them.  Should  they  wish  to  transfer  their 
spear  from  one  hand  to  the  other  they  pass  it  back  of  their  bodies' 
When  charging  the  enemy's  camp,  or  when  warding  off  the  attack  of  the 
enemy  upon  their  own  camp,  these  warriors  charge  separately  from 
the  other  warriors  in  the  main  body,  thus  performing  a  flank  move- 


a6       I  hid  Columbian  Museum — Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

ment.  No  one  is  allowed  to  pass  in  front  of  them.  When  the  tribe 
goes  to  battle,  each  society  wears  its  society  dress.  Before  making 
a  general  attack  upon  the  enemy  the  warriors  all  stand  in  a  row. 
Before  them  is  a  row  of  medicine-men  and  chiefs,  and  the  medicine- 
arrow  Keeper  who  performs  the  ceremony  to  the  Great  Medicine. 
He  points  the  sacred  arrows  at  the  enemy  as  taught  by  the 
great  Prophet,  and  thus  insures  victory  to  his  tribesmen.  The 
Keeper  of  the  medicine-arrow  always  charges  in  front  of  all,  and  no 
one  may  charge  in  front  of  him.  In  ancient  times  the  great  medicine- 
arrows  were  very  effective.  When  directed  towards  a  warring  tribe 
they  rendered  the  enemy  helpless  and  without  power  to  resist.  Suc- 
cess with  these  arrows  against  their  enemies,  according  to  the  old- 
time  warriors,  accounts  for  the  numerous  aliens  among  the  Cheyenne 
tribe. 

12.— OWL-MAN'S  BOW-STRING  OR  WOLF  WTARRIORS. 

The  Bow-String  warrior  or  Wolf  Warrior  society  is  the  sixth  war- 
rior society  in  the  tribe.  It  was  founded  by  a  Cheyenne  warrior  by  the 
name  of  Owl-Man.  It  is  not  included  among  those  five  societies 
founded  by  the  great  Prophet,  but  has  been  founded  since  the  advent 
of  the  white  man.  This  society  has  one  head  chief  and  seven  assist- 
tants  or  sub-chiefs,  under  whom  are  from  one  to  two  hundred 
warriors.  The  members  of  the  society  are  distinguished  for  their 
gayety,  their  songs,  their  dances,  and  the  various  colors  of  their 
dress.  Each  member  dresses  as  he  is  able,  and  hence  there  is  no 
uniformity  of  dress.  They  paint  their  bodies  and  the  trappings  of 
their  ponies.  This  is  the  noisiest  and  the  gayest  of  all  the  societies. 
It  may  be  joined  by  any  warrior  of  fifteen  years  or  more.  The 
society  does  not  seek  members  to  join  it,  but  the  warriors  come  to  it 
to  ask  admission. 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  way  Owl -Man  founded  his  so- 
ciety :  He  was  traveling  alone,  toward  the  north.  While  he  traveled 
he  was  overtaken  by  a  hard  rainstorm  which  turned  into  a  heavy  snow- 
storm. Reaching  a  deep  canyon  he  went  into  it  with  his  pony  for 
shelter.  The  cold  increased  and  the  snow  fell  steadily  until  an 
object  could  not  be  seen  ten  paces  away.  Owl-Man's  clothing  was 
drenched  with  rain  and  frozen  stiff;  his  pony  was  frozen  to  death. 
He  gathered  bark  from  the  trees  and  made  a  shelter  for  himself.  His 
buffalo  robe  kept  him  from  freezing;  when  morning  came  he  was 
so  hungry  and  cold  that  he  was  about  to  lie  down  and  die.  when  some 
one  behind  him  spoke,  and  told  him  to  go  west  until  he  found  another 


March,  1905. 


The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey. 


27 


creek,  where  there  was  a  lodge.  He  wrapped  himself  up  in  his  robe 
and  started  west.  As  he  drew  near  to  the  creek  he  heard  a  drum 
beating,  just  as  if  there  were  a  dance  going  on,  and  when  he  came  in 
view  of  the  creek  he  saw  a  lodge.  He  went  directly  into' it,  and  as  he 
approached,  the  drumming  ceased.  By  the  time  he  reached  the  lodge 
he  could  barely  move,  for  his  clothing  was  frozen  stiff  and  his  feet  and 
hands  were  frozen.  When  he  entered  the  lodge  he  found  a  fire  in  the 
center,  and  the  ground  inside  was  perfectly  smooth.  At  the  back  of 
the  lodge  was  a  flat  drum.     Owl-Man  threw  himself  down  and  was 


Fig.  6.     Wolf-skin  worn  by  Wolf  Warrior. 


unconscious  until  toward  evening,  when  he  revived  and  sat  up.  As 
he  sat  there  he  heard  several  people  all  around  on  the  outside  of  the 
lodge  talking  and  telling  each  other  to  go  in  and  see  him.  Owl-Man 
peeped  through  the  entrance  and  as  far  as  he  could  see  there  were 
wolves  approaching  the  lodge,  coming  from  over  the  hills,  and  they 
talked  his  own  language.  The  wolves  entered  the  lodge,  and  as  they 
entered  they  were  instantly  transformed  into  human  beings.  The 
lodge  was  soon  filled,  and  still  there  remained  outside  of  the  lodge 
several  hundred.  After  these  Wolf-men  had  taken  their  seats  inside, 
an  old  Wolf-man  came  in  and  took  his  seat  in  front  of  the  circle  and 
opposite  the  entrance.  This  old  Wolf-man  began  to  talk  to  Owl-Man 
as  follows:  "We  have  powers  of  cunning  such  as  no  other  animals 
have,  and  we  have  the  whole  earth  for  our  home.     We  this  dav  have 


a8       1  iklo  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

come  here  to  bless  you  and  your  people,  so  that  you  may  live  and  go 
back  to  your  people  and  show  them  what  we  are,  and  we  will  instruct 
you  for  the  next  four  days.  Our  people  possess  the  whole  earth,  and 
our  braves  do  the  fighting  in  companies.  We  do  not  allow  women  to 
mingle  with  our  braves.  If  you  allow  maidens  in  your  work,  take  four 
maidens,  who  are  to  wear  belts  made  of  rattlesnake  skin."  After  thus 
talking  to  Owl-Man  the  old  Wolf -man,  who  claimed  to  be  the  chief  and 
who  had  a  place  assigned  to  him  in  front  of  the  circle  of  Wolf-men, 
burned  incense,  and  in  an  instant  every  Wolf  warrior  was  gorgeously 
dressed.  The  old  Wolf-man  wore  a  bear's  hide,  dressed  with  the 
hair  on.  All  the  other  Wolf  warriors  were  adorned  with  wolf 
skins,  tanned  with  the  hair  on,  with  a  hole  cut  at  the  back, 
big  enough  to  permit  the  insertion  of  the  head  (see  Fig.  6), 
so  that  the  skins  were  worn  as  capes,  the  head  hanging  on  their 
breast  and  the  tail  part  hanging  down  their  back.  See  Plate 
XI.  Fig.  i.  Their  naked  bodies  were  painted  yellow  and  the 
extremities  of  their  limbs  were  painted  red.  Each  Wolf  war- 
rior had  a  spear  about  eight  feet  long,  with  a  point  at  one  end 
made  out  of  flint.  These  spears  were  not  alike,  but  they  were 
trimmed  with  the  feathers  of  every  bird  to  be  found.  Two  of  the 
spears  had  eagle  feathers  hanging  down  their  whole  lengths;  these  two 
spears  stood,  one  at  each  side  of  the  entrance  of  the  lodge,  while 
two  other  spears,  wrapped  with  otter  skin,  stood  in  front  of  the  Wolf 
chief.  The  Wolf  chief  had  in  his  hand  a  flat  drum.  Several  other  of 
the  Wolf-men  also  had  a  small  drum.  The  Wolf-men  watched  their 
chief  when  he  began  to  burn  incense  to  the  Great  Medicine.  The 
Wolf  chief  held  his  drum  over  the  burning  incense,  passing  it  back- 
wards and  forwards,  first  to  the  east,  then  south,  then  west,  and  then 
north.  Then  he  took  hold  of  the  drum  stick  and  struck  the  drum 
once,  then  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  times.  The  other  Wolf-men 
stood  watching  their  chief.  They  beat  their  drums  and  yelled  and 
whooped  with  all  their  might,  and  they  began  to  sing  and  dance. 
Owl-Man  learned  about  three  hundred  songs  from  these  mysterious 
Wolf-men.  They  had  four  sacred  songs  and  four  war  songs.  While 
dancing,  each  warrior  got  up  and  took  hold  of  his  spear  and  danced 
with  it.  When  they  ceased  to  dance  they  stood  the  spears  up  in 
front  of  them  again.  Four  days  they  danced.  At  night,  Owl-Man 
would  fall  asleep,  and  in  the  morning,  when  he  awoke,  all  of  the  Wolf- 
men  would  be  gone,  but  they  would  soon  return  and  appear  in  human 
form,  ready  for  the  dance.  On  the  last  day,  in  the  afternoon,  Owl- 
Man  saw  four  old  men  coming,  who  entered  the  lodge,  and  each  old 
man  made  a  speech,  telling  his  exploits  to  the  other  warriors.     After 


Pl.  XI.    Fig.  1.    Wolf  Warriors. 
Fig.  2.    Wolf  Warrior. 


FIELD  COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,   PL.  XI. 


Fig.  i. 


Fig.  2. 


March.,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  29 

each  old  man  had  made  a  speech,  all  the  men  were  ordered  to  go 
out  and  stand  abreast  in  a  row,  to  run  a  race.  One  of  the  men  called 
out  the  name  of  the  Wolf  society,  and  they  all  ran  at  full  speed. 
When  the  warriors  returned  from  the  race  the  four  old  men  entered 
the  lodge  and  said  to  Owl-Man,  "Arise  and  go  on  your  way.  In  one 
and  a  half  days  you  will  reach  your  people.  We  have  blessed  you, 
and  now,  in  addition  to  what  we  have  shown  to  you,  go  and  teach 
your  people  to  be  brave.  Take  this  medicine;  it  is  to  be  put  upon 
your  warriors  before  they  go  on  the  warpath  or  dance.  When  they 
go  outside  in  the  open  air  to  dance  they  are  not  to  stop  dancing  till 
some  old  warrior  with  experience  in  several  battles  comes  before 
them  and  tells  his  exploits,  the  same  as  we  have  done.  Then  you 
are  at  liberty  to  dismiss  the  dancers."  Then  the  four  old  men 
started  out,  and  when  they  were  outside  the  lodge  they  disappeared 
instantly  and  left  Owl-Man  sitting  out  on  the  prairie,  amidst 
the  four  old  men  who  had  stepped  out  of  the  lodge.  There  were 
now  four  real  wolves  running  from  Owl-Man,  who  arose  and  went  on 
until  he  found  the  Cheyenne  village. 

As  Owl-Man  came  to  his  village  all  the  people  came  to  see  him, 
and  to  inquire  how  he  came  through  the  snowstorm.  He  told  v/hat 
had  happened.  On  the  first  clear  day  they  camped  in  the  form  of 
a  circle,  and  Owl-Man  had  his  lodge  erected  in  the  middle  of  the 
camp.  He  went  to  the  lodge  and  had  the  ground  inside  made  as 
smooth  as  was  that  of  the  Wolf-men's  lodge  that  he  had  visited. 
After  the  lodge  was  erected  he  called  for  young  men  to  come  and 
join  his  society.  He  performed  the  ceremony  exactly  as  he  had  been 
instructed  by  the  Wolf-men. 

Any  warrior  in  the  tribe  not  already  a  member  of  one  of  the  five 
sacred  warrior  societies  may  join  the  Wolf  society.  When  going 
to  war,  or  when  about  to  dance,  they  put  upon  their  bodies  the  med- 
icine given  to  them  by  the  original  Wolf-men  through  Owl-Man. 
This  medicine  is  still  used  in  the  society.  When  dancing,  the  warriors 
hold  their  spears  and  stand  erect.  They  jump  up  and  down  very 
heavily,  and  rather  slowly.  See  Plate  XI.  Fig.  2.  This  society 
alone,  of  all  the  warrior  societies,  dances  with  guns,  and  they 
shoot  blank  cartridges.  The  presence  of  the  guns  in  the  dance  in- 
dicates that  the  society  was  organized  after  the  advent  of  the 
white  man  with  his  powder  and  gun.  Some  of  the  brave  men 
ride  their  ponies,  while  other  warriors  are  dancing  on  their  feet. 


30      Fibld  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

13.-  THE  MEDICINE  OR  SUN  DANCE. 

The  following  is  a  description  of  the  Medicine-Dance,  which 
tradition  accords  to  have  been  given  to  Erect-Horns:  The  camp-circle 
is  formed  by  the  warrior  society  of  the  Lodge-maker.  On  the  first 
day  after  the  camp  circle  has  been  formed,  the  Priests',  or  Medicine- 
men's tipi  is  erected  in  the  line  of  the  camp-circle,  where  all  the 
medicine-men  who  have  ever  made  or  performed  the  Sun-Dance  are 
invited  to  come.  The  priests  or  medicine-men  having  assembled 
within  the  Priests'  tipi,  the  Lodge-maker  appoints  a  man  to  act  as 
chief  priest,  or  master  of  ceremonies,  by  giving  him  a  pipe  to  smoke. 
On  the  second  day  the  Priests'  tipi  is  taken  up  bodily  by  women, 
one  woman  taking  hold  of  each  tipi  pole,  and  they  move  it  to  a  point 
fifty  paces  in  front  of  the  camp  circle.  When  set  down  and  secured 
in  its  new  position,  it  is  cleansed  within,  and  is  henceforth  called 
the  "Lone-tipi."  The  earth  is  now  formed  and  the  pipes  are 
taken  inside  and  placed  in  front  of  the  priests.  Towards  evening  a 
buffalo  skull,  which  has  been  lying  outside  the  Lone-tipi,  together 
with  two  straight  sticks  used  for  stirring  the  pipes  when  smoking. 
are  brought  in.  and  the  skull  is  inverted  and  placed  with  its  ncse 
towards  the  entrance.  The  priests  then  feast.  All  of  the  members 
of  the  Lodge-maker's  Warrior  society  are  then  invited  to  the  feast. 
After  the  feast  they  rehearse  inside  the  Lone-tipi,  and  dance 
until  midnight.  Henceforth  the  chief  priest  and  the  Lodge-maker 
remain  in  this  tipi. 

They  decide  on  the  location  for  the  Medicine-lodge,  and  on  the 
third  day  the  poles  for  the  Medicine-lodge  are  cut,  and  the  Medicine- 
lodge  is  erected.  In  the  morning  of  the  third  day,  at  sunrise,  a 
noted  spy  of  the  tribe,  dressed,  and  on  horseback,  goes  through  the 
entrance  of  the  camp-circle  to  the  place  decided  upon  for  the  location 
of  the  Medicine-lodge,  and  tells  of  his  exploits  in  war.  Then  there 
are  placed  at  the  back  of  the  lodge  two  young  willows,  two  plum- 
trees,  one  four-foot  peg,  four  rainbow  sticks,  twenty  people's  sticks, 
one  long  willow  dipper,  two  long  forked  sticks,  all  of  which  had  been 
brought  on  the  previous  day  by  certain  of  the  medicine-men.  Next 
the  skull  is  painted  and  the  grass  lobes  are  stuffed  in  the  nasal  cav- 
ities and  eye  sockets.  Then  the  Lodge-maker's  wife  and  the  Lodge- 
maker  are  painted,  pre  pa  rat  <>ry  to  their  entrance  into  the  Medicine- 
lodge.  Then  they  paint  the  arrow  of  the  ccnter-po]<\  and  the  ceremony 
of  this  arrow  is  performed.  Should  the  Lodge-maker  be  a  good  and 
just  man.  the  chief  priest  blesses  him  by  raising  the  arrow,  point 
upward  and  in  front  of  his  mouth,  backward  and  forward,  praying 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  31 

that  power,  plenty,  and  fortune  may  come  to  him.  Next  the  chief 
priest  takes  meat  from  the  ribs  of  a  beef  and  cuts  it  in  the  form  of  a 
star,  in  the  center  of  which  he  represents  a  person ;  then  with  an  arrow 
he  pierces  the  meat,  and  lays  the  meat  and  arrow  aside.  The  Earth 
peg,  called  the  "center-pole  peg,"  is  next  painted,  the  point  red 
and  the  head  black.  From  a  piece  of  rawhide  is  cut  an  image  of 
an  armless  man,  about  twelve  inches  long,  with  an  eagle  breath  feather 
tied  to  its  head,  and  a  sinew  string,  about  four  feet  long,  attached 
to  its  back.  This  figure,  representing  other  tribes  of  people,  is  called 
the  "center-pole  man,"  and  is  suspended  from  the  center-pole. 
The  sacred  pipe,  filled  with  tobacco,  is  also  painted,  and  is  placed 
by  the  side  of  the  painted  skull  and  in  front  of  it.  While  the 
priests  and  medicine-men  are  performing  the  ceremony  inside  of 
the  Lone-tipi,  and  preparing  the  Lodge-maker  and  his  wife  for  their 
entrance  into  the  Medicine-lodge,  the  others  are  bringing  to  the 
place  selected  for  it  the  center-pole  and  other  poles  for  its  con- 
struction. 

The  Lodge-maker's  wife  bears  the  buffalo  skull  out  of  the  Lone- 
tipi,  followed  by  the  Lodge-maker  with  the  sacred  pipe,  the  chief 
priest,  and  the  other  priests.  The  woman  holds  the  buffalo  skull 
out  to  one  side  and  in  front  of  her.  She  advances  slowly  in  a  stooping 
position,  stops  three  times  to  rest,  and  finally  comes  to  a  place  about 
thirty  paces  from  the  Lone-tipi.  There  all  sit  in  a  row,  with  the 
skull  directly  in  front  of  them.  The  woman  sits  directly  back  of 
the  skull,  the  chief  priest  at  her  side.  To  the  left  of  the  skull  rests 
the  sacred  pipe,  to  the  left  of  the  pipe  the  incense.  Sacrifices  and 
offerings  are  brought  in  and  placed  by  the  side  of  the  skull.  Every- 
thing is  ready.  The  offerings  are  brought  in.  The  thunder- 
bird's  nest  is  tied  in  the  fork  of  the  center-pole,  and  gifts  are  tie«1 
to  its  prongs.  The  human  image  is  attached  to  the  pole,  and  the 
arrow  and  peg  are  placed  in  the  thunder-bird's  nest.  The  offerings 
are  tied  to  the  forks  alone.  The  center-pole  is  now  painted,  and  the 
chief  priest  and  the  Lodge-maker  step  upon  it.  In  the  mean  time 
a  hole  is  dug  in  the  ground  to  receive  it.  First  the  center-pole  is 
painted  with  a  band  of  red  about  six  inches  wide,  then  a  band  of  black 
of  the  same  width,  the  bands  being  about  four  to  five  feet  from  the 
surface  of  the  ground  after  the  pole  is  erect.  Of  the  four  top  poles, 
the  two  south  -poles  are  painted  red,  while  the  two  north  poles  are 
painted  black,  the  symbol  for  clouds. 

Everything  being  in  readiness,  the  woman,  the  chief  priest,  and 
the  other  priests  all  rise  and  approach  the  lodge,  and  they  stop  im- 
mediately back  of  the  skull.     As  the  sacred  pipe  song  is  sung,  the 


3a       Fiki-d  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX 

woman  and  the  chief  priest  raise  the  pipe  upwards  toward  the  center- 
pole,  the  chief  priest  makes  a  prayer,  and  then  the  center-pole  is 
partly  raised.  Three  times  again  the  center-pole  is'  raised,  with  the 
same  accompaniments,  and  is  placed  erect  in  its  proper  position.  The 
cross-bars  are  then  placed  in  the  crotches  of  the  encircling  forked 
poles.  The  warriors  go  to  the  camp  and  bring  back  tipis  to  cover 
the  sacred  lodge.  When  the  cover  is  in  place  the  warriors  go  to 
their  societies  to  feast  and  prepare  for  the  dedication  of  the  lodge. 
Toward  evening  the  wife  of  the  Lodge-maker  brings  a  bed  through 
the  right  side  of  the  lodge,  and  places  it  at  the  back  of  the  lodge, 
behind  the  altar.  All  the  chiefs  are  invited,  and  at  this  time  come 
to  the  lodge. 

All  of  the  warrior  societies  take  part  in  the  dedication  ceremony . 
which  lasts  for  two  hours.  Eight  brave  men  are  selected  to  help 
and  protect  their  people,  and  two  of  the  chiefs  make  speeches.  All 
of  the  priests  return  and  sit  around  the  chief  priest,  the  Lodge-maker, 
and  his  wife.  They  prepare  to  drill  those  who  are  to  take  part  in 
the  coming  dance,  in  the  hand-and-arm  exercise.  In  this  exercise 
the  right  arm  is  raised  twice,  then  the  left  arm  is  raised  twice,  then 
both  arms  twice.  In  each  exercise  they  turn  first  to  the  right,  and 
then  to  the  left  side.  This  lasts  half  of  the  night.  After  singing 
the  sacred  pipe  song  four  times,  and  smoking,  the  chief  priest  and 
the  woman  go  out.  Before  they  go  out  incense  is  burned  over  each, 
which  is  repeated  on  their  return.  While  they  are  out  the  four 
pipe  songs  are  sung,  and  they  smoke.     Now  they  dance  till  morning. 

On  the  fourth  day,  or  the  first  day  of  the  dance,  the  altar  is  built 
around  the  skull.  The  Lodge-maker's  wife  goes  out  in  front  of  the 
lodge  and  procures  earth,  which  is  cut  into  strips  about  one  and  a 
half  feet  long  and  four  inches  wide,  five  pieces  in  all,  and  each  piece 
having  grass  upon  it.  These  pieces  of  sod  the  woman  brings  in  one 
at  a  time,  and  places  them  in  order,  two  at  the  right,  and  two  at  the 
left;  the  fifth  piece  occupies  a  position  at  the  back  of  the  skull. 
Then  the  brush  about  the  altar  is  set  up,  one  willow  on  the  right 
side,  then  a  plum  bush,  then  small  bushes,  as  they  proceed  backward 
in  a  circle.  On  the  left,  in  front  of  the  altar,  is  a  willow  and 
a  plum  bush,  the  same  as  on  the  opposite  side.  Directly  in  front 
of  the  skull  is  dug  a  ditch  four  inches  deep  and  two  feet  long, 
and  from  eight  to  ten  inches  wide.  In  the  bottom  of  the  ditch 
is  a  layer  of  sand,  upon  which  are  drawn  from  seven  to  nine  red 
and  black  lines  representing  roads.  Arched  over  the  ditch,  from 
side  to  side,  are  four  painted  rainbow  sticks,  with  eagle  breath- 
feathers   stuck   to  them.     On  one  side  of  the  ditch  stand  ten  red 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  33 

sticks,  representing  the  Cheyenne,  and  on  the  other  ten  black 
and  white  sticks,  representing  other  tribes.  The  red  sticks  have 
downy  feathers  stuck  to  them.  While  the  altar  is  being  completed 
all  the  men  who  are  to  paint  the  dancers  take  them  to  the  chief  priest, 
that  he  may  put  medicine  upon  them,  so  that  they  may  succeed  in 
their  work.  The  Lodge-maker  and  his  wife  are  painted  red.  All 
the  children  go  to  the  river  and  fetch  mud  to  the  front  of  the  lodge, 
where  they  mold  it  into  pairs  of  mud  animals,  which,  when  com- 
pleted, they  set  about  the  base  of  the  center-pole,  thus  representing 
the  animals  which  the  ceremony  is  expected  to  attract. 

The  number  of  days  of  dancing  is  determined  by  the  experience 
of  the  chief  priest,  who  must  conduct  the  lodge  as  he  has  been  in- 
structed. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth  or  last  day  of  the  dance  those  who 
so  desire  have  their  breasts  pierced  and  dance  tied  by  a  lariat  to  the 
center-pole  until  the  skin  of  the  breast  breaks  from  the  weight  of 
their  bodies. 

In  the  closing  ceremonies,  at  evening,  several  short  rites  are 
performed  by  the  dancers.  The  tipi  cloth  of  the  lodge  is  raised,  and 
four  entrances  are  made.  Then  a  scalp,  or  the  downy  feather  of  an 
eagle,  is  tied  to  a  stick  four  feet  in  length,  which  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  an  old-time  warrior,  who  is  leader.  Then  there  occurs  a 
race  around  the  center-pole.  The  leader  runs  in  advance,  swinging 
his  stick  to  the  right  and  left,  up  and  down,  as  he  runs.  The  racers 
run  out  to  the  south  and  back,  then  to  the  west  and  back,  then  to 
the  north  and  back,  then  return  to  their  places,  drink,  and  wash  off 
their  paint.  * 


II.  MYTHS. 

14— THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHEYENNE 

In  the  beginning  the  Great  Medicine  created  the  earth,  and  the 
waters  upon  the  earth,  and  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars.  Then  he  made 
a  beautiful  country  to  spring  up  in  the  far  north.  There  were  no 
winters,  with  ice  and  snow  and  bitter  cold.  It  was  always  spring, 
and  the  wild  fruits  and  berries  were  everywhere,  and  great  trees 
shaded  the  streams  of  clear  water  that  flowed  all  through  the 
land.  In  this  beautiful  country  the  Great  Medicine  put  animals, 
birds,  insects,  and  fish  of  all  kinds.  Then  he  created  human  beings, 
and  put  them  in  the  country  to  live  with  the  other  animals.  Every 
animal,  both  big  and  small,  every  bird,  both  big  and  small,  every 
fish,  and  every  insect  could  talk  to  and  understand  the  people  whom 
the  Great  Medicine  had  sent  to  live  among  them,  and  they  could 
understand  each  other,  for  they  were  all  friends,  and  had  a  common 
language.  The  people  went  naked.  They  lived  on  honey  and  wild 
fruits,  and  were  never  hungry.  They  wandered  everywhere  among 
the  animals,  and  when  night  came  and  they  were  weary,  they  lay 
down  on  the  cool  grass  and  slept.  During  the  days  they  talked  with 
the  other  animals,  for  they  were  all  friends,  and  one  people. 

The  Great  Spirit  created  three  kinds  of  human  beings:  First, 
those  whq  had  hair  all  over  their  bodies;  second,  white  men,  who 
had  hair  all  over  their  heads  and  faces  and  on  their  legs;  third,  red 
men,  who  had  very  long  hair  on  their  heads  only.  The  hairy  people 
wore  very  strong  and  active.  The  white  people  with  the  long  beards 
and  the  wolf  were  the  most  tricky  and  cunning  of  all  in  that 
beautiful  country.  The  red  people  were  active,  and  were  the  swift- 
est runners.  The  Great  Medicine  taught  them  how  to  catch  fish,  and 
they  ate  the  fish.  None  of  the  other  people  knew  anything  about 
eating  meat.  After  a  time  the  hairy  people  left  the  north  country, 
and  went  south  where  all  the  land  was  barren.  The  red  people 
followed  the  hairy  people  into  the  south.  The  bearded  people  left 
the  north  country,  but  no  one  knew  where  they  went,  but  it  is  be- 
lieved to-day  that  they  were  the  ancestors  of  the  white  people. 

Before  the  red  men  left  the  beautiful  land  the  Great  Medicine 
spoke  to  one  of  their  number  and  blessed  him  and  his  people.     The 

34 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  35 

Great  Medicine  told  this  man  to  go  and  call  all  of  his  red  people  to- 
gether at  a  certain  place.  The  man  called,  and  the  people  came, 
and  it  was  the  first  time  that  they  had  all  come  together.  When  they 
were  assembled  the  Great  Medicine  blessed  them,  and  gave  them 
some  medicine  spirit  to  awaken  their  dormant  minds.  From  that 
time  on  they  seemed  to  possess  intelligence,  and  to  know  what  to  do. 
The  Great  Medicine  spoke  to  one  of  the  men  again,  and  told  him 
to  teach  his  people  to  band  together,  so  that  they  all  might  work 
and  clothe  their  naked  bodies  with  skins  of  panther  and  bear  and 
deer.  The  Great  Medicine  gave  them  power  to  hew  and  shape 
certain  kinds  of  flint  found  in  the  north,  and  other  stone,  into  any 
shape  they  wanted.  They  hewed  stones  into  cups,  pots,  stone  axes, 
arrow  heads,  and  spear  heads.  The  flint  they  made  into  arrow  and 
spear  heads. 

After  the  Great  Medicine  called  the  red  people  together,  they 
stayed  together  ever  afterwards.  They  left  the  beautiful  country 
and  went  southward,  in  the  same  direction  the  hairy  people  had 
gone.  The  hairy  people  remained  naked,  but  the  red  people  clothed 
themselves  because  the  Great  Medicine  told  them  to.  When  the 
red  men  came  the  hairy  people  who  had  gone  before  had  scattered 
and  made  homes  inside  of  high  hills,  and  in  caves  high  up  in  the 
mountains.  The  red  men  seldom  saw  the  hairy  men,  for  they  were 
afraid  and  always  went  inside  their  caves  when  the  red  men  went 
to  see  them.  In  their  caves  they  had  beds  made  out  of  leaves  and 
skins.  They  had  pottery  and  flint  tools  like  those  of  the  red  men. 
These  hairy  people  did  not  increase,  but  decreased  in  numbers,  until 
they  finally  disappeared  entirely,  and  to-day  the  red  men  cannot 
tell  what  ever  became  of  them.  After  the  red  men  had  left  the 
north  country  and  gone  south  where  the  land  was  barren,  the  Great 
Medicine  again  spoke  to  one  of  the  red  men  and  told  him  to  tell  his 
people  to  return  north,  for  the  barren  southland  was  going  to  be 
flooded.  When  they  returned  to  that  beautiful  land  the  white- 
skinned,  long-bearded  men  and  some  of  the  wild  animals  were  gone 
from  there.  They  were  no  longer  able  to  talk  to  the  animals,  but  this 
time  they  controlled  all  the  animals,  and  they  tamed  the  panther  and 
bear  and  other  animals  to  catch  game  for  them  to  eat.  They  in- 
creased in  numbers,  and  became  tall  and  strong  and  active.  Again 
they  left  the  beautiful  land  to  go  south.  The  water  had  gone, 
and  grass  and  trees  had  grown,  and  the  land  was  beautiful  like  the 
northland.  For  a  long  time  they  stayed  in  the  south,  but  while 
they  were  still  there  another  flood  came,  and  it  scattered  the  red  men 
here  and  there.     After  a  time  the  great  waters  went  down  again, 


36       Field  Columbian  Museum — Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

and  the  land  was  dry,  but  the  red  men  never  came  together  any 
more,  but  went  in  small  bands,  just  as  they  did  in  the  beginning, 
before  the  Great  Medicine  told  them  to  unite.  The  last  flood  des- 
troyed almost  everything,  and  the  red  men  were  on  the  point  of 
starvation,  so  that  they  had  to  start  back  to  their  original  home 
in  the  north  as  they  had  done  before.  When  they  reached  the  north 
country  they  found  the  land  all  barren.  There  were  no  trees,  and 
there  was  not  a  living  animal  there,  and  not  a  fish  in  the  water. 
When  the  red  men  looked  upon  their  once  beautiful  home  they 
cried  aloud  and  all  the  women  and  children  wept.  This  happened 
in  the    beginning,  when  the  Great  Medicine  created  us. 

After  many  hundreds  of  years,  just  before  the  winter  season  came, 
the  earth  shook  and  the  high  hills  sent  forth  fire  and  smoke.  When 
the  winter  season  came,  there  came  great  floods.  All  of  the  red 
men  and  women  had  to  dress  in  furs  and  live  in  caves,  for  the 
winter  was  long  and  cold.  It  destroyed  all  of  the  trees,  but  when 
spring  came  there  was  a  new  growth.  The  red  men  suffered  much, 
and  were  almost  famished  when  the  Great  Medicine  took  pity  on 
them  and  gave  them  corn  to  plant,  and  the  buffalo  for  meat.  From 
that  time  there  were  no  more  floods  and  no  more  famines.  The 
people  continued  to  live  in  the  south.  They  grew  and  increased  in 
numbers,  and  there  were  many  different  bands  with  different  lan- 
guages, for  the  people  were  never  united  after  the  second  flood. 

The  descendants  of  the  original  Cheyenne  who  inhabited  the 
beautiful  country  in  the  far  north  before  the  winter  seasons  came 
on  in  this  country,  and  to  each  of  whom  the  great  Prophet  came, 
had  men  who  were  magicians.  They  had  supernatural  wisdom. 
They  charmed  not  only  their  own  people,  but  also  all  animals  that 
they  lived  on  or  ate.  It  made  no  difference  how  fierce  or  wild 
the  animals  were,  if  those  men  used  that  secret  influence  on  them, 
they  became  so  tame  that  the  people  could  go  right  up  to  them  and 
handle  them.  This  magic  knowledge  was  handed  down  from  the 
original  Cheyenne,  who  came  from  the  far  north/  To-day  Bushy- 
Head  is  the  only  one  who  understands  that  ancient  ceremony,  and 
the  Cheyenne  of  to-day  place  him  in  rank  equal  to  the  medicine- 
arrow  Keeper  and  his  assistants. 

The  magicians  of  old  understood  the  secret  powers  only,  but 
they  could  not  bring  forth  live  buffalo  in  big  herds,  and  prophesy 
like  the  original  medicine-arrow  Prophet,  who  was  sent  by  the  Great 
Spirit  to  the  Cheyenne,  who  still  celebrate  his  arrows.  It  has 
been  confirmed  by  nearly  all  of  the  old  Cheyenne,  that  about  the 
time  that  they  were  in  that  beautiful  country  in  the  far  north  the 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  37 

white  persons  of  to-day  are  the  same  as  the  bearded  people  who 
were  then  there,  but  when  the  Great  Spirit  sent  winters  it  divided 
them  from  the  white  persons.  But  the  floods  that  came  on  after 
the  winters  set  in  divided  the  Indian  or  red  people.  This  is  the 
reason  the  Cheyenne  give  as  the  cause  of  the  existence  of  different 
tribes  speaking  different  languages. 

15.— THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  CHEYENNE. 

Many  thousands  of  years  ago  the  Cheyenne  inhabited  a  country 
in  the  far  north,  across  a  great  body  of  water.  For  two  or  three 
years  they  had  been  overpowered  by  an  enemy  that  outnumbered 
them,  and  they  were  about  to  become  the  enemy's  slaves,  and  they 
were  filled  with  sorrow.  Among  their  number  was  a  great  medicine- 
man who  possessed  a  wooden  hoop,  like  those  used  in  the  games  of 
to-day.  On  one  side  of  the  hoop  were  tied  magpie  feathers,  while 
opposite  them,  on  the  other  side  of  the  hoop,  was  a  flint  spear  head, 
with  the  point  projecting  toward  the  center  of  the  hoop.  One 
night  the  great  chief  told  the  people  to  come  to  a  certain  place. 
When  they  were  assembled  he  led  them  away.  He  kept  in  advance 
of  them  all  the  time,  and-  in  his  left  hand  he  held  a  long  staff, 
and  in  his  right  hand  he  held  his  hoop  horizontally  in  front  of 
him,  with  the  spear  head  of  the  hoop  pointing  forward.  No  one 
was  allowed  to  go  in  front  of  him.  On  the  fourth  night  of  their 
journey  they  saw,  at  some  distance  from  the  ground,  and  apparently 
not  far  in  front  of  them,  a  bright  light.  As  they  advanced  the  light 
receded,  and  appeared  always  a  little  farther  beyond.  They  trav- 
eled a  few  more  nights,  and  the  fire  preceded  them  all  the  way,  until 
they  came  to  a  large  body  of  water.  The  medicine-man  ordered 
the  Cheyenne  to  form  in  a  line  along  the  edge  of  the  water,  and  they 
obeyed.  He  then  told  them  that  he  was  going  to  take  them  across 
the  water  to  another  land,  where  they  would  live  forever.  As  they 
stood  facing  the  water  the  medicine-man  asked  them  to  sing  four 
times  with  him,  and  he  told  them  that  as  they  sang  the  fourth  time  he 
would  lead  them  across  the  water.  As  he  sang  the  fourth  time  he 
began  to  walk  forwards  and  backwards,  and  the  fourth  time  he 
walked  directly  into  the  water.  All  the  people  followed  him.  He 
commanded  them  not  to  look  upward,  but  ever  downward.  As 
they  went  forward  the  waters  separated,  and  they  walked  on  dry 
ground,  but  the  water  was  all  around  them.  Finally,  as  they  were 
being  led  by  night  the  fire  disappeared,  but  they  continued  to  fol- 
low the  medicine-man  until  daylight,  when  they  found  themselves 
walking  in  a  beautiful  country. 


38       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

In  the  new  country  they  found  plenty  of  game  to  live  on.  The 
medicine-man  taught  the  Cheyenne  many  things,  but  they  seemed 
to  be  of  weak  minds,  though  they  were  physically  strong.  Out  of 
these  Cheyenne  there  sprang  up  men  and  women  who  were  large, 
tall,  strong,  and  fierce,  and  they  increased  in  number  until  they 
numbered  thousands.  They  were  so  strong  that  they  could  pick 
up  and  carry  off  on  their  backs  the  large  animals  that  they  killed. 
They  tamed  panther  and  bear  and  trained  them  to  catch  wild  game  for 
them  to  eat.  They  had  bows  and  arrows,  and  were  always  dressed  in 
furs  and  skins,  and  in  their  ignorance  they  roamed  about  like  animals. 
In  those  days  there  were  very  large  animals.  One  variety  of  these 
animals  was  of  the  form  of  a  cow,  though  four  times  as  large;  by 
nature  it  was  tame  and  grazed  along  the  river  banks ;  men  milked  them. 
Boys  and  men  to  the  number  of  twenty  could  get  upon  their  backs 
without  disturbing  them.  Another  variety  of  these  large  animals 
resembled  in  body  the  horse,  and  they  had  horns  and  long,  sharp  teeth. 
This  was  the  most  dangerous  animal  in  the  country.  It  ate  men,  had 
a  mind  like  a  human  being,  and  could  trail  a  human  being  through 
the  rivers  and  tall  grasses  by  means  of  its  power  of  scent.  Of 
these  there  were  but  few.  In  the  rivers  there  were  long  snakes 
whose  bodies  were  so  large  that  a  man  could  not  jump  over  them. 

The  Cheyenne  remained  in  the  north  a  long  time,  but  finally 
roamed  southward,  conveying  their  burdens  by  means  of  dogs. 
While  they  were  traveling  southward  there  came  a  great  rain  and 
flood  all  over  the  country.  The  rivers  rose  and  overflowed,  and 
still  the  rain  kept  falling.  At  last  the  high  hills  alone  could  be 
discerned.  The  people  became  frightened  and  confused.  On  a 
neighboring  hill,  and  apart  from  the  main  body  of  the  Cheyenne, 
were  a  few  thousand  of  their  number,  who  were  out  of  view, 
and  had  been  cut  off  from  the  main  body  by  the  rising  water. 
When  the  rains  ceased  and  the  water  subsided  the  part  who 
were  cut  -off  looked  for  their  tribesmen,  but  they  found  no  sign  of 
them;  and  it  has  ever  since  been  a  question  among  the  Cheyenne 
whether  this  band  of  people  was  drowned,  or  whether  it  became  a 
distinct  tribe.  Long  afterward  the  Cheyenne  met  a  tribe  who  used 
many  of  their  words,  and  to-day  they  believe  that  a  part  of  their 
people  are  still  living  in  the  north.  Nearly  all  the  animals  were 
either  drowned  or  starved  to  death.  The  trees  and  fruit  upon 
which  the  people  had  formerly  subsisted  were  destroyed.  A  few 
large  gray  wolves  escaped  with  them,  for  they  had  crossed  with  the 
tame  dogs.  The  dogs  were  so  large  that  they  could  carry  a  child 
several  miles  in  a  dav.     After  the  flood  had  subsided  the  senses  of 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  39 

the  Cheyenne  seemed  to  be  awakened.  They  became  strong  in 
mind  but  weak  in  body,  for  now  they  had  no  game  to  subsist  on. 
They  lived  on  dried  meat  and  mushrooms,  which  sustained  them 
for  a  long  time. 


16.— THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  BUFFALO  AND  OF  CORN. 

When  the  Cheyenne  were  still  in  the  north  they  camped  in  a 
large  circle.  At  the  entrance  of  the  camp-circle  there  was  a  deep 
spring  of  water  rapidly  flowing  from  out  the  hillside.  They  camped 
near  this  spring  so  that  they  might  get  their  water  easily.  One  bright 
day  they  were  playing  the  game  of  ring  and  javelin  in  the  center 
of  the  circle.  The  game  consisted  of  a  hoop  painted  red  and  black 
all  over,  and  four  throwing  sticks  which  were  to  be  thrown  at  the 
hoop  when  it  was  rolled.  Two  of  the  sticks  were  painted  red,  and 
two  were  painted  black.  The  sticks  were  three  or  four  feet  long, 
and  were  tied  together  in  pairs.  The  hoop  was  rolled  along  the  ground, 
and  as  it  rolled  the  red  or  the  black  sticks  were  thrown  at  it,  and  the 
contestants  won  accordingly  as  the  black  or  red  portion  of  the  ring 
fell  upon  the  black  or  red  sticks  as  it  stopped.  The  owner  of  the 
stick  which  matched  the  color  of  that  portion  of  the  ring  that  fell  on 
it  won.  There  was  a  large  crowd  of  Cheyenne  gathered  in  the  middle 
of  the  camp,  watching  the  game.  As  the  players  contested  there  came 
from  the  south  side  of  the  camp-circle  a  certain  young  man  to  witness 
the  game.  He  stood  outside  of  the  crowd  to  look  on.  He  wore  a 
buffalo  robe  with  the  hair  side  turned  out,  his  body  was  painted 
yellow,  and  a  yellow  painted  eagle  breath-feather  stuck  up  on  top 
of  his  head.  Soon  there  came  from  the  north  side  of  the  camp-circle 
another  young  man  to  see  the  game,  and  he  was  dressed  exactly 
like  the  man  who  came  from  the  south  side.  He  also  stood  outside 
of  the  crowd,  and  opposite  the  first  man,  to  view  the  game.  When 
they  saw  each  other  they  went  inside  the  crowd  and  met  face  to  face 
and  asked  each  other  questions.  They  were  unacquainted  with 
each  other,  and  were  surprised  when  they  saw  that  they  were  dressed 
alike.  The  crowd  stopped  playing  the  game,  and  steod  around  to 
hear  what  the  two  young  men  said.  The  man  from  the  south  said 
to  the  man  from  the  north,  "My  friend,  you  are  imitating  my  manner 
of  dress.  Why  do  you  do  it?"  Then  the  man  from  the  north  said, 
"Why  do  you  imitate  my  manner  of  dress?"  A  last  each  told  the 
other  the  reason  for  his  manner  of  dress  on  that  day.  Each  claimed 
to  have  entered  the  spring  that  flowed  out  from  the  hillside  at  the 
entrance  to  the  camp-circle,  where  he  had  been  instructed  to  dress 


40       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

after  this  fashion.  They  then  told  the  great  crowd  that  they  were 
going  to  enter  the  spring  again,  and  that  they  would  soon  come  out. 
The  crowd  watched  them  as  they  approached  the  spring.  The  man 
from  the  south  side  reached  the  spring,  covered  his  head  with  his 
buffalo  robe,  and  entered.  The  other  young  man  did  the  same  thing. 
They  splashed  the  water  as  they  went,  and  soon  found  themselves 
in  a  large  cave.  Near  the  entrance  sat  an  old  woman  cooking  some 
buffalo  meat  and  corn  in  two  separate  earthen  pots.  The  woman  wel- 
comed them  thus:  "Grandchildren,  you  have  come.  I  have  been  ex- 
pecting you,  and  am  cooking  for  you.  Come  and  sit  down  beside  me." 
They  sat  down,  one  on  each  side  of  her,  and  told  her  that  their  people 
were  hungry,  and  that  they  had  come  to  her  for  their  relief.  The 
woman  gave  them  corn  from  one  pot  and  meat  from  the  other.  They 
ate,  and  were  filled,  and  when  they  were  through  the  pots  were  as 
full  as  when  they  began.  Then  the  old  woman  told  the  young  men 
to  look  toward  the  south.  They  looked,  and  they  saw  the  land  to  the 
south  covered  with  buffalo.  She  then  told  them  to  look  to  the  west. 
They  looked,  and  saw  all  manner  of  animals,  large  and  small,  and 
there  were  ponies,  but  they  knew  nothing  of  ponies  in  those  days, 
for  they  never  had  seen  any.  She  then  told  them  to  look  toward  the 
north.  They  looked  to  the  north,  and  saw  everywhere  growing 
corn.  Then  said  the  old.  woman  to  them,  "All  this  that  you  have 
seen  shall  in  the  future  be  yours  for  food.  This  night  I  cause  the 
buffalo  to  be  restored  to  you.  When  you  leave  this  place  the  buffalo 
shall  follow  you,  and  you  and  your  people  shall  see  them  coming 
from  this  place  before  sunset.  Take  in  your  robes  this  uncooked  corn. 
Every  spring-time  plant  it  in  low,  moist  ground,  where  it  will  grow. 
After  it  matures  you  will  feed  upon  it.  Take  also  this  meat  and 
corn  which  I  have  cooked,  and  when  you  have  returned  to  your 
people,  ask  them  all  to  sit  down  in  the  following  order,  to  eat  outof 
these  two  pots:  first,  all  males,  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest,  with 
the  exception  of  one  orphan  boy;  second,  all  females,  from  the  oldest 
to  the  youngest,  with  the  exception  of  one  orphan  girl.  When  all 
are  through  eating,  the  contents  of  the  pots  are  to  be  eaten  by  the 
orphan  boy  and  the  orphan  girl." 

The  two  young  men  went  out  and  obeyed  the  old  woman.  When 
they  passed  out  of  the  spring  they  saw  that  their  entire  bodies  were 
painted  red,  and  the  breath-feathers  of  their  heads  were  painted 
red  instead  of  yellow.  They  went  to  their  people,  and  they  ate  as 
directed  of  the  corn  and  the  meat,  and  there  was  enough  for  all; 
and  the  contents  of  the  pots  was  not  diminished  until  it  came  time 
for  the  two  orphan  children,  who  ate  all  the  food.     Toward  sunset. 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  41 

the  people  went  to  their  lodges  and  began  watching  the  spring  closely, 
and  in  a  short  time  they  saw  a  buffalo  jump  from  the  spring.  It 
jumped  and  played  and  rolled,  and  then  returned  to  the  spring. 
In  a  little  while  another  buffalo  jumped  out,  then  another,  and  an- 
other, and  finally  they  came  out  so  fast  that  the  Cheyenne  were  no 
longer  able  to  count  them.  The  buffalo  continued  to  come  out  until 
dark,  and  all  night  and  the  following  day  the  whole  country  out  in 
the  distance  was  covered  with  buffalo.  The  buffalo  scented  the 
great  camp,  for  they  left  a  long,  narrow  space  where  the  wind  went 
from  the  camp.  The  next  day  the  Cheyenne  surrounded  the  buffalo. 
Though  they  were  on  foot  they  ran  very  fast.  For  a  time  they  had 
an  abundance  of  buffalo  meat.  In  the  spring-time  they  moved  their 
camp  to  low,  swampy  land,  where  they  planted  the  corn  they  had 
received  from  the  medicine  spring.  It  grew  rapidly,  and  every 
grain  they  planted  brought  forth  strong  stalks,  and  t>n  each  stalk 
grew  from  two  to  four  ears  of  corn.  The  Cheyenne  planted  corn 
every  year  after  this. 

One  spring,  after  the  planting  of  their  corn,  the  Cheyenne  went 
on  a  buffalo  hunt.  When  they  had  enough  meat  to  dry  to  last  them 
for  a  considerable  time,  they  returned  to  their  corn-fields.  To  their 
surprise  they  found  that  their  corn  had  been  stolen  by  a  neighboring 
tribe.  Nothing  but  the  stalks  remained,  not  even  a  kernel  for  seed; 
so  it  was  a  long  time  before  the  .Cheyenne  planted  any  more  corn. 
They  trailed  the  footprints  of  the  enemy  for  several  days  from  their 
fields,  though  the  thieves  had  visited  them  about  one  moon  before. 
They  fought  with  two  or  three  tribes  of  Indians,  but  could  not  trace 
the  thieves,  nor  could  they  learn  anything  regarding  the  stolen  corn. 

17.— THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  MEDICINE-ARROWS. 

After  the  Cheyenne  had  received  their  corn,  and  while  they  were 
still  in  the  north,  a  young  man  and  young  woman  of  the  tribe  were 
married.  The  young  woman  became  pregnant,  and  carried  her 
child  four  years  in  her  womb.  The  people  observed  the  woman  with 
great  interest  to  see  what  would  happen  to  her.  During  the  fourth 
year  she  brought  forth  a  beautiful  boy.  The  child's  father  and 
mother  died  before  he  was  able  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  so  his 
grandmother,  who  lived  alone,  took  care  of  him.  The  Cheyenne 
regarded  the  birth  of  the  child  as  extraordinary,  and  they  looked 
upon  him  as  supernatural.  Soon  the  boy  walked  and  talked.  As 
soon  as  the  boy  could  walk  he  was  given  a  buffalo  calf  robe  to  wear, 
and  was  shown  how  to  wear  it.     He  at  once  turned  the  hair  side  of 


42       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

the  robe  out.     At  that  time  the  medicine-men  were  the  only  ones 
who  wore  their  robes  in  that  way. 

There  were  among  the  Cheyenne  certain  men  of  extraordinary 
intelligence  and  superhuman  powers.  At  certain  times  these  great 
i  medicine-men  would  come  together  and  put  up  a  lodge,  where  they 
\  would  sit  in  a  large  circle.  They  would  chant  and  go  through  curious 
rituals.  Each  man  would  rise  and  by  incantation  perform  before 
the  crowd  as  no  other  man  could  perform.  When  the  boy  was  about 
ten  years  old  he  desired  to  go  and  take  part  in  one  of  the  magic  dances 
given  by  the  great  medicine-men.  He  insisted  that  his  grandmother 
go  to  the  chief  of  the  medicine-men  and  gain  for  him  admission  to 
the  dance.  His  grandmother  told  one  of  the  medicine-men  of  the 
boy's  desire,  and  so  they  let  him  enter  the  lodge.  When  the  boy 
went  into  the  lodge  the  chief  said  to  him,  "Where  do  you  want  to 
live?"  (Where  do  you  want  to  sit?)  Without  ceremony  the  boy 
took  his  seat  beside  the  chief.  He  wore  his  robe,  and  had  the  man 
who  brought  him  in  paint  his  body  red,  with  black  rings  around  his 
face,  and  around  each  wrist  and  ankle.  The  performance  began 
at  one  end  of  the  circle.  When  the  boy's  turn  to  perform  came  he 
told  the  people  what  he  was  going  to  do.  With  sweet  grass  he  burned 
incense.  Through  the  incense  he  passed  his  buffalo  sinew  bow-string 
east,  south,  west,  and  north.  Then  he  asked  two  men  to  assist 
him  while  he  performed.  First  he  had  them  "tie  his  bow-string 
around  his  neck,  then  cover  his  body  with  his  robe,  then  pull  at  the 
ends  of  the  string.  They  pulled  with  all  their  might,  but  they  could 
not  move  him.  He  told  them  to  pull  harder,  and  as  they  pulled  at 
the  string  again  his  head  was  cut  off  and  rolled  from  under  his  robe, 
and  his  body  was  left  under  the  robe.  They  took  his  head  and  placed 
it  under  the  robe  with  his  body.  Next  they  removed  the  robe,  and 
there  sat  a  very  old  man  in  place  of  the  boy.  They  covered  the  old 
man  with  the  robe,  and  when  they  removed  the  robe  again,  there 
was  a  pile  of  human  bones  with  a  skull.  They  spread  the  robe  over 
the  bones,  and  when  it  was  removed  there  was  nothing  there. 
Again  they  spread  the  robe,  and  when  they  removed  it,  there  was 
the  boy  again. 

After  the  magic  dance  the  Cheyenne  moved  their  camp  and 
hunted  buffalo.  The  wonderful  boy  and  a  crowd  of  other  boys  went 
out  by  themselves  to  hunt  buffalo  calves  that  might  be  returning  to 
the  place  where  they  last  saw  their  mothers.  They  saw  five  or  six 
calves,  one  of  which  was  a  two-year-old.  The  wonderful  boy  asked 
the  other  boys  to  surround  the  calves  so  that  he  might  kill  the  two- 
year-old.     They  chased  the  calves  and  killed  the  two-year-old  with 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  43 

their  bows  and  arrows.  The  boys  began  to  skin  the  buffalo  calf 
with  their  bone  knives.  The  wonderful  boy  told  the  other  boys  to 
skin  it  very  carefully,  for  he  wanted  the  skin  for  his  robe.  He  told 
them  to  skin  the  whole  head,  and  to  leave  the  hoofs  on.  While  they 
were  skinning  the  calf  they  saw  a  man  coming  toward  them,  driving 
a  dog  team.  The  man  had  come  to  the  killing-ground  to  gather  what 
bones  had  been  left.  When  the  man  saw  the  boys  he  went  to  them. 
This  man  was  Young- Wolf,  the  head  chief  of  the  tribe.  He  said  to 
the  boys,  "My  children  have  favored  me  at  last.  I  shall  take  charge 
of  this  whole  buffalo.  You  boys  can  go  off,  for  I  have  come.  You 
cannot  take  this  buffalo."  All  the  boys  stopped  skinning  except 
the  wonderful  boy,  who  told  the  chief  that  he  wanted  only  the  hide 
for  his  robe,  and  that  the  boys  were  dressing  it  under  his  directions. 
The  chief  pushed  the  wonderful  boy  aside,  but  the  boy  returned 
and  began  skinning  again.  The  chief  jerked  the  boy  away,  and 
threw  him  down.  The  boy  returned  and  began  skinning  again,  and 
pretended  that  he  was  going  to  skin  one  of  the  hind  legs,  but  he  cut 
the  leg  off  at  the  knee  instead,  and  left  the  hoof  on.  While  the  chief 
was  skinning  the  calf  the  boy  struck  him  on  the  back  of  the  head 
with  the  buffalo  leg,  and  instantly  killed  him.  The  chief  fell  to  the 
ground  dead.  The  boys  ran  to  their  camp  and  told  the  people  what 
the  wonderful  boy  had  done,  and  it  caused  great  excitement.  All 
the  warriors  assembled  and  resolved  to  kill  the  wonderful  boy.  They 
went  out  and  found  the  body  of  their  chief,  but  the  wonderful  boy 
had  already  returned  to  the  camp  with  the  other  boys,  and  he  was 
in  his  grandmother's  lodge.  The  old  woman  was  cooking  food  for 
him  in  an  earthen  pot.  Suddenly  the  old  woman's  tipi  was  raised 
completely  by  the  warriors,  who  had  returned  from  their  hunt  for 
the  wonderful  boy.  The  wonderful  boy  kicked  over  the  cooking 
pot,  and  its  contents  went  into  the  fire,  and  as  the  smoke  rose  the 
boy,  by  mysterious  means,  went  up  with  it,  and  the  warriors  saw 
the  old  woman  sitting  the're  alone.  As  they  looked  around  they  saw 
the  boy  walking  off  toward  the  east  at  a  distance  of  about  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  from  them.  The  warriors  pursued  him,  but  could  not 
approach  nearer  to  him,  so  they  gave  up  the  chase.  Four  times 
they  chased  him  without  avail.  Early  one  morning,  while  one  of 
the  young  men  was  out  hunting  near  their  camp,  he  saw  the  won- 
derful boy  down  in  a  ravine,  warming  himself  by  a  fire  he  had  built. 
The  young  man  returned  to  the  camp  at  once,  and  notified  the  war- 
riors, who  immediately  went  out  and  surrounded  the  ravine.  They 
saw  the  fire,  but  the  boy  had  turned  into  a  wolf,  and  jumped  over 
a  high  bluff  and  ran  away,  howling  at  the  crowd.     They  began  to  be 


44       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

afraid  of  him,  for  they  could  do  nothing  with  him,  but  they  still 
watched  for  him  every  day.  One  day  they  saw  him  appear  on  the 
top  of  a  nearby  hill.  Every,  one's  attention  was  attracted,  and  they 
went  out  to  see  him.  He  came  to  the  top  of  the  hill  five  times,  and 
each  time  he  was  in  a  different  dress.  First  he  appeared  in  the  Red 
Shield  warrior's  dress.  He  had  a  head-dress  made  out  of  buffalo 
skin;  he  had  horns,  a  spear,  a  red  shield,  and  two  buffalo  tails  tied 
on  each  arm.  The  second  time  he  appeared  in  the  Coyote  warrior's 
dress.  His  body  was  painted  black  and  yellow,  with  two  eagle 
feathers  sticking  up  on  his  head.  The  third  time  he  appeared  in 
the  Dog-Men  warrior's  dress.  He  had  on  a  feathered  head-dress,  an 
eagle  bone  whistle,  a  rattle  of  buffalo  hoof,  and  a  bow  and  arrows. 
The  fourth  time  he  appeared  in  the  dress  of  the  Hoof-Rattle  warriors. 
His  body  was  painted,  and  he  carried  a  rattle  to  sing  by,  also  a  spear 
about  eight  feet  long,  with  a  crook  at  one  end,  the  end  of  the  shaft 
being  bent  in  semicircular  form.  The  fifth  time  he  appeared  with 
his  body  painted  white,  and  on  his  forehead  he  wore  a  white  owl 
skin. 

After  his  fifth  appearance  the  wonderful  boy  disappeared  en- 
tirely. No  one  knew  where  he  went,  and  he  was  soon  forgotten, 
and  people  thought  him  dead.  He  was  gone  four  years.  He  traveled 
alone  into  the  highest  peaks  of  the  mountains.  As  he  drew  hear  to 
a  certain  peak  a  door  opened  for  him  to  enter.  He  passed  through 
the  door  into  the  earth,  and  the  opening  closed  after  him.  There 
he  found  men  of  all  tribes,  sitting  .around  in  a  large  circle.  Each  man 
represented  a  tribe,  and  had  a  bundle.  There  was  one  bundle  present 
that  was  unaccompanied,  and  as  the  Cheyenne  entered  all  welcomed 
him  and  pointed  him  to  the  unoccupied  seat  under  the  bundle  that 
was  wrapped  in  fox  skin.  Before  taking  this  seat  the  head  man 
explained  to  him  what  he  would  expect  of  his  people  if  he  took  the 
seat  under  the  bundle,  which  was  going  to  be  his  to  take  back  to  his 
people.  The  head  man  told  him  that  he  would  have  to  stay  here 
under  the  earth  with  them  for  four  years,  receiving  instructions; 
that  he  was  to  become  the  prophet  and  counsellor  of  the  Cheyenne. 
As  the  Cheyenne  followed  his  instructions  and  accepted  the  bundle 
all  the  men  gave  thanks  to  him.  The  Cheyenne  sat  down,  and  when 
his  turn  came  to  perform  his  bundle  ceremony,  they  took  down  his 
bundle  and  went  through  the  sacred  ceremonies  and  sacred  songs 
of  his  bundle,  all  in  order.  When  they  opened  his  bundle  for  him, 
there  were  four  medicine-arrows,  each  arrow  representing  something. 
They  gave  the  young  man  instructions  concerning  the  order  of  the 
bundle  ceremony,  and  sacred  songs  in  order,  prophecies,  magic,  and 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.     '  45 

material  for  warfare  and  hunting,  to  take  back  to  his  people  at  the 
end  of  his  four  years'  stay. 

After  the  Cheyenne  had  driven  the  wonderful  boy  from  their 
camp  the  whole  country  was  visited  by  a  four  years'  famine.  The 
people  became  weak,  and  were  threatened  with  starvation.  All 
animals  died  of  starvation.  The  people  ate  herbs.  One  day,  as 
they  were  traveling  in  search  of  food,  five  children  lingered  behind 
in  search  of  herbs  and  mushrooms.  While  they  were  eating  them 
there  appeared  the  wonderful  young  man  who  had  been  driven  from 
the  camp.  The  young  man  said,  "My  poor  children,  throw  away 
those  mushrooms.  It  is  I  who  brought  famine  among  you,  for  I 
was  angry  at  your  people,  who  drove  me  from  their  camp.  I  have 
returned  to  provide  for  you,  so  that  you  shall  not  hunger  in  the 
future.  Go  and  gather  for  me  some  dried  buffalo  bones  and  I  will 
feed  you."  The  boys  ran  and  gathered  buffalo  bones  and  brought 
them  to  him.  The  wonderful  boy  made  a  few  passes  over  them,  and 
they  were  turned  into  fresh  meat,  and  he  fed  the  children  with  fat, 
marrow,  liver,  and  other  parts  of  the  buffalo.  When  they  had  eaten 
all  they  wanted  he  gave  them  fat  and  meat  and  told  them  to  take 
it  to  their  people  and  tell  them  that  he,  Motzeyouf,  had  returned, 
and  that  they  should  no  longer  hunger.  The  boys  all  ran  to  the 
camp  that  their  parents  had  made  in  the  mean  time.  By  magic,  how- 
ever, Motzeyouf  reached  the  camp  first.  He  entered  the  lodge  of  his 
uncle  and  lay  down  to  rest,  for  he  was  tired.  His  uncle  was  sitting 
outside  his  lodge  with  his  wife,  and  they  did  not  see  Motzeyouf  enter. 
When  the  Cheyenne  heard  'from  the  boys  what  had  happened,  they 
became  excited.  All  went  to  the  lodge  where  Motzeyouf  was. 
They  came  to  Motzeyouf's  uncle  and  began  to  question  him,  but 
his  uncle  knew  nothing  of  what  they  said.  His  uncle's  wife  went 
into  the  lodge  to  get  a  pipe,  and  she  saw  Motzeyouf  lying 
there,  covered  with  a  buffalo  robe.  She  saw  that  his  robe, 
shirt,  leggins,  and  moccasins  were  painted  red.  She  ran  out  of 
the  lodge  and  told  the  men  that  some  one  was  in  there.  The  men 
guessed  that  it  was  Motzeyouf,  and  they  went  inside.  The  uncle 
asked  the  strange  man  to  sit  up,  and  then  all  cried  over  him.  The 
men  observed  that  Motzeyouf  had  a  bundle  with  him,  and,  knowing 
that  he  had  power,  they  asked  him  what  they  should  do.  He  told 
them  to  camp  in  a  circle,  and  have  a  large  tipi  put  up  in  the  center 
of  the  circle.  He  called  all  the  medicine-men  to  bring  their  rattles 
and  pipes  to  him.  He  went  to  the  tipi  that  was  prepared  for  the 
ceremony,  and  performed  the  ceremony  and  sang  the  sacred  songs, 
as  he  had  been  instructed.     When  he  came  to  the  .part  relating  to 


46       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

the  fourth  arrow,  and  its  song,  it  was  night,  and  the  buffalo  had 
returned.  The  buffalo  came  like  the  roar  of  thunder,  and  it  frightened 
the  Cheyenne.  They  went  to  Motzeyouf  and  asked  him  what  to  do. 
He  said,  "Go  and  sleep,  for  the  buffalo,  your  food,  has  returned  to 
you."  The  buffalo  continued  to  roar  like  thunder  as  long  as  Mot- 
zeyouf sang.  The  next  morning  the  land  was  covered  with  buffalo, 
and  the  people  went  out  and  killed  all  they  wanted.  From  that 
time  forth  the  Cheyenne  had  plenty  to  eat  and  great  power,  owing 
to  the  power  of  the  medicine- arrows. 

According  to  the  account  of  Wolf-chief  and  his  ancestors,  the 
medicine-arrows  are  from  eighteen  to  twenty  generations  old.  Mot- 
zeyouf brought  them  from  the  earth. 

18.— THE   ORIGIN  OF  THE  SUN-DANCE. 

The  great  Medicine-Dance  of  the  Cheyenne  is  a  devout  worship 
of  the  Great  Medicine,  creator  of  the  universe,  ruler  of  the  whole 
earth  and  the  heavens,  in  whose  honor  are  performed,  with  great 
reverence,  the  rites  attendant  upon  a  vow  to  him.  From  time  im- 
memorial the  Cheyenne  have  performed  this  great  ceremony  in 
honor  of  the  Great  Medicine.  The  great  Medicine-lodge  proper  is 
the  true  symbol  of  the  ancient  world,  and  to  this  day  is  so  considered 
by  the  old-time  Half -Cheyenne  (Sutayo),  a  people  distinct  and 
separate  from  the  Medicine- Arrow  Cheyenne,  who  were  the  originators 
of  the  dance.  This  dance  represents  the  creation  by  the  Great 
Medicine  and  the  Roaring  Thunder  of  the  Above,  who  is  the  great 
chief  of  the  air  and  the  winds ;  it  represents  the  creation  of  the  ancient 
animal  and  vegetable  worlds,  the  earth  and  all  that  is  on  it,  the  water 
and  its  creatures,  the  blue  sky,  the  sun,  moon,  stars,  the  clouds,  the 
winds,  the  thunder,  rain,  hail,  and  the  rainbow.  The  great  Med- 
icine-Dance was  performed  only  in  times  of  pestilence  or  famine  or 
great  need;  for  the  Great  Medicine  promised  the  ancient  Cheyenne 
that  he  would  replenish  the  earth  and  bless  the  people  abundantly 
if  they  would  accurately  perform  the  ceremony  as  he  had  given  it 
to  them. 

In  the  beginning  the  Great  Medicine,  the  Dark  Clouds,  and  the 
Roaring  Thunder  revealed  this  ceremony  to  Erect-Horns,  a  medicine- 
man who  came  forth  from  out  the  top  of  a  high  mountain  peak  in 
the  far  north.  There  was  famine  in  all  of  the  northl and.  Vegetation 
withered,  the  animals  starved,  the  land  became  barren  and  dry,  and 
the  ancient  Cheyenne  were  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  for  they  had 
no  food  but  dried  vegetation  and  their  dogs  of  burden.     They  left 


/■  '<■ 


' 


;       -  ■-    -v>_. 


Pl.  XII.    The  Cheyenne  Journey  to  the  North. 


Pl.  XIII.    Erect-Horns  Selects  a  Companion. 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  47 

the  country  and  went  farther  north  in  search  of  food.  See  PI.  XII. 
At  evening,  when  it  was  nearly  dark,  they  made  their  camp  by  a 
beautiful  stream.  The  several  leaders  of  the  tribe  went  to  the  side 
of  the  line  and  sat  down  in  a  semi-circle  to  watch  the  tribe  as  it  marched 
on  towards  the  stream.  As  they  sat  watching  the  old  men,  the  women, 
the  children,  and  the  dog  teams  go  by,  one  of  the  chiefs  ordered  the 
men  to  go  in  pairs  to  certain  women  whom  they  admired,  and  to  beg 
food  of  them.  As  the  men  formed  in  pairs  the  chiefs  called  out  to 
the  women  to  pay  attention  to  the  men  who  were  approaching 
them.  One  of  the  men  who  begged  to  be  fed  was  a  young  med- 
icine-man. When  his  turn  came  to  beg  for  something  to  eat 
he  went  alone  to  a  beautiful  woman  whom  he  admired,  and  had 
selected.  See  PL  XIII.  She  was  the  wife  of  the  chief  of  the  tribe. 
The  woman  was  pleased  with  him,  and  she  gave  him  something  to 
eat.  While  she  stood  waiting  for  him  to  finish  eating  the  medicine- 
man told  the  woman  to  make  ready  in  haste,  for  he  had  chosen  her 
for  a  special  purpose,  and  wanted  her  to  go  with  him  to  the  far  north. 
He  told  her  to  take  her  dogs  and  camp  outfit,  for  they  would  be  gone 
about  forty  days.  The  woman  consented,  and  they  slipped  away 
without  any  one  seeing  them  go. 

A  day  and  a  night  and  a  day  the  medicine-man  traveled  with  the 
woman,  whose  five  dogs  carried  the  tipi  poles  and  the  camping  para- 
phernalia. The  second  night  they  rested.  The  medicine-man  directed 
the  woman  to  erect  the  tipi  so  that  it  would  face  the  east,  and  to  make 
two  sage  brush  beds.  Then  he  told  her  that  he  had  received  a  message 
from  the  Great  Medicine  of  the  Above  that  he  should  go  and  bring  to 
his  people  the  great  Medicine-Lodge,  the  Great  Medicine's  symbol  of 
the  ancient  world,  with  the  promise  that,  if  the  people  would  receive 
the  ceremony,  buffalo  and  all  other  animals  would  make  their  ap- 
pearance, all  vegetation  would  be  renewed,  and  there  would  be 
an  end  to  famine.  The  next  morning  they  continued  their  journey, 
and  in  the  evening  they  pitched  their  tipi.  Thus  they  journeyed 
for  several  days.  One  day  the  woman  said  to  the  medicine-man, 
"Why  have  you  eloped  with  me?  I  have  yet  to  receive  your  atten- 
tion." The  medicine-man  replied,  "The  medicine-spirits  require 
your  presence  with  me  in  order  that  I  may  fulfil  one  of  the  require- 
ments of  the  great  Medicine-Dance  of  the  ancients,  that  is,  to  per- 
petuate the  race  through  woman.  You  must  be  patient  until  our 
return,  when  I  will  bestow  my  affection  upon  you;  but  this  must  not 
happen  before  we  enter  the  mountain  to  which  we  are  going."  Again 
they  journeyed  for  several  days,  until  they  saw  before  them  a  forest, 
from  whose  midst  there  arose  a  mountain  to  the  sky;  beyond  they 


48       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

saw  great  waters.  See  PI.  XIV.  On  a  beautiful  morning  they 
came  to  a  large  rock  in  front  of  the  mountain.  '  They  rolled  the  rock 
aside,  and  found  a  passage,  which  they  entered.  When  they  had 
entered  the  rock  rolled  back  in  its  place  and  closed  them  in.  They 
were  in  the  great  lodge  of  the  mountain.  The  spectacle  was  won- 
derful. To-day  the  lodge  is  arranged  in  the  same  way.  There  the 
medicine-man  and  the  woman  received  ceremonial  instruction  from 
the  great  Medicine,  and  from  the  Roaring  Thunder,  who  talked  to 
them  from  out  the  top  of  the  mountain  peak.  See  PI.  XV.  For 
four  days  the  great  Medicine  taught  them,  and  thus  he  spoke; 
"From  henceforth,  by  following  my  teachings,  you  and  your  children 
shall  be  blessed  abundantly;  follow  my  instructions  accurately,  and 
then,  when  you  go  forth  from  this  mountain,  all  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  will  move.  The  Roaring  Thunder  will  awaken  them,  the  sun, 
moon,  stars,  and  the  rain  will  bring  forth  fruits  of  all  kinds,  all  the 
animals  will  come  forth  behind  you  from  this  mountain,  and  they 
will  follow  you  home.  Take  this  horned  cap  to  wear  when  you  per- 
form the  ceremony  that  I  have  given  you,  and  you  will  control  the 
buffalo  and  all  other  animals.  Put  the  cap  on  as  you  go  from  here 
and  the  earth  will  bless  you." 

The  medicine-man  and  the  woman  came  forth  from  the  moun- 
tain, and  as  they  stepped  out  the  whole  earth  seemed  to  become 
new,  and  there  came  forth  buffalo  that  followed  them.  See  PI.  XVI. 
As  they  marched  on,  preceded  by  their  dogs,  the  other  animals 
moved  along  behind  them,  and  they  watched  the  man  and  the  woman 
continually  from  the  rear.  When  they  camped  at  night  the  animals 
lay  down  to  rest.  In  the  morning  the  medicine-man  put  on  his 
horned  cap,  and  sang  the  sacred  songs  taught  him  while  in  the  moun- 
tain, and  then  he  began  the  journey  home,  and  the  animals  followed. 
For  many  days  they  traveled,  until  the  medicine-man  knew  that 
they  were  near  the  camp  of  his  people,  who  were  still  by  the  beautiful 
stream.  Then  he  halted,  took  his  horned  cap  from  his  head,  and 
all  the  animals  halted.  In  the  morning  he  went  to  the  camp  of  his 
people,  and  told  them  that  he  had  returned  with  the  buffalo,  so  that 
they  should  no  longer  suffer  from  hunger.  He  at  once  ordered  that 
the  great  Medicine-Lodge  dance  should  be  performed,  exactly  as 
it  was  taught  him  in  the  mountain.  When  the  Cheyenne  saw  the 
medicine-man  wearing  the  horned  cap,  they  named  him  "Erect- 
Horns,"  for  when  he  wore  the  cap  the  horns  stood  erect. 

The  tribe  has  preserved  the  cap  to  this  day,  just  as  the  great 
medicine-arrows  are  preserved  by  the  original  Medicine-Arrow 
Cheyenne,  and  the  man  who  takes  the  vow  to  give  the  dance  wears 


Pl.  XIV.    They  Discover  the  Sacred  Mountain. 


- 


o 


« •« . 


Pl.  XV.    They  Receive  Instruction  from  the  Great  Medicine. 


Pl.  XVI.    They  Leave  the  Mountain,  Followed  by  Buffalo. 


FIELD   COLUMBIAN    MUSEUM. 


ANTHROPOLOGY,  PL.  XVII. 


Pl.  XVII.   The  Ancient  Cheyenne  Camp-Circle. 


.3J0AI :'. 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  49 

the  cap.  All  the  men  who  have  heretofore  pledged  and  performed 
the  great  Medicine-Lodge  dance  since  the  time  of  Erect-Horns  have 
been  leaders  of  other  medicine-dances,  and  such  medicine-men  may 
become  leaders  in  several  dances  in  succession. 

There  are  two  distinct  bands  of  the  Cheyenne,  the  old-time  North- 
ern Cheyenne,  whose  symbol  is  the  great  Medicine-Dance  brought 
by  Erect-Horns.  See  PI.  XVII.  Their  language  is  somewhat  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  other  Cheyenne,  with  whom  they  once  warred. 
The  other  band  is  the  original  Medicine-Arrow  Cheyenne,  whose 
emblem  was  the  great  Medicine-Arrows  brought  by  Motzeyouf 
(Standing-Medicine),  the  great  Medicine- Arrow  Prophet.  Standing- 
Medicine  and  Erect-Horns  are  regarded  as  messengers  from  the 
Great  Medicine  and  the  Roaring  Thunder,  because  of  their  wonderful 
powers  and  gifts;  and  they  are  both  represented  in  the  great  Med- 
icine-Lodge. Of  the  two  forks  of  the  great  center-pole  of  the  Med- 
icine-Lodge, one  represents  the  Medicine-Arrow  Prophet,  or  Standing- 
Medicine,  and  the  other  Erect-Horns,  the  great  Medicine-Lodge 
dancer. 

At  a  certain  time  in  the  progress  of  the  Medicine-Dance,  the  med- 
icine-men direct  the  children  to  go  and  get  mud  and  fashion  it  into 
the  form  of  buffalo  two  or  three  inches  in  height.  Those  children 
who  go  after  the  mud  return  and  sit  outside  the  front  of  the  lodge 
and  make  images  of  buffalo,  elk,  deer,  antelope,  and  birds,  in  pairs. 
When  they  have  completed  the  images,  they  are  directed  by  the 
medicine-men  to  bring  them  into  the  lodge  and  place  them  around 
the  base  of  the  center  fork.  Thus  they  represent  the  buffalo  and 
other  animals  that  the  Medicine-Arrow  Prophet  and  Erect-Horns 
brought  with  them  from  the  earth.  This  the  Cheyenne  do  at  every 
medicine-dance,  hoping  that,  as  in  ancient  times,  the  buffalo  will 
come  during  the  performance  of  the  dance.  Long  ago,  after  the 
disappearance  of  the  two  great  medicine-men,  the  medicine-men 
would  sing  the  songs  that  were  taught  them  by  Erect- Horns  during 
the  ceremony,  and  by  the  charm  of  the  songs  all  the  animals  would 
appear,  running  up  to  see  the  lodge. 

There  was  a  time  when  the  Cheyenne  captured  human  beings  and 
tied  them  to  the  center-pole  as  a  sacrifice,  in  order  that  the  tribe  might 
be  blessed  and  might  procure  favor. 


III.  CONCLUSION. 

In  presenting  a  resume"  of  the  more  important  points  contained 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  we  may  first  examine  the  myths,  with  the 
special  idea  of  seeing  how  far  they  account  for  the  rites  of  the  cere- 
monies. The  first  myth,  called  the  Origin  of  the  Cheyenne,  is  in 
reality  not  an  origin  myth  at  all;  for  not  only  is  the  origin  of  any- 
thing not  explained,  but  there  is  no  statement  of  the  facts  of  begin- 
nings. The  myth  rather  may  be  termed  a  tale  of  migration,  and 
as  such  presents  nothing  which  may  be  held  to  bear  directly  upon 
the  social  organization.  One  point  in  the  tale,  however,  is  worth 
noting,  namely,  that  which  relates  to  the  belief  in  a  hairy  race  of 
men  who  lived  in  the  Southwest  in  the  caves  and  cliffs.  Such  refer- 
ences are  rather  common  in  the  plains  mythology.  One  other  inter- 
esting fact  may  be  noted  in  this  tale,  namely,  the  distinction  implied 
between  medicine-men  as  physicians  or  healers,  and  medicine-men  as 
wonder-workers  or  magicians;  a  distinction  which  the  Cheyenne  still 
maintain. 

In  the  second  myth  presented,  also  entitled  an  origin  myth,  the 
scene  of  the  early  Cheyenne  is  again  laid  in  the  Far  North,  across 
a  body  of  water.  Being  hard  pressed  by  an  overwhelming  body  of 
the  enemy,  they  are  led  out  of  their  difficulties  by  a  medicine-man 
who  makes  use  of  the  gaming  wheel.  Their  movement  is  directed 
by  fire,  which  precedes  them  until  they  come  to  a  body  of  water, 
whereupon  the  medicine-man  makes  a  dry  path  and  leads  them 
south  into  a  country  of  abundant  game.  At  this  time  the  tribe  was 
physically  strong,  but  weak  minded.  The  country  was  infested  with 
the  usual  monsters.  While  continuing  southward  they  were  over- 
taken by  a  flood,  part  of  the  tribe  being  cut  off  and  supposed  to 
exist  still  in  the  North.  It  is  impossible  from  the  tale  itself  to  asso- 
ciate the  culture  hero  with  Motzeyouf,  or  Standing-Medicine,  but  it 
is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  he  was  the  same. 

In  the  next  tale,  which  explains  the  origin  of  the  buffalo  and 
corn,  we  have  presumably  the  same  tale  as  that  which  is  sometimes 
told  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  Sun-Dance  lodge.  Two  young  men, 
dressed  alike,  encounter  each  other  at  a  wheel  and  javelin  game. 
They  compare  notes  and  find  that  each  has  visited  a  spring  that 

50 


March,  1905.  The  Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  51 

flows  from  the  hillside  near  by,  where  each  has  received  instructions. 
Then  they  entered  the  spring  together  and  encountered  the  mythical 
grandmother,  who  gave  the  magic  food  which  they  took  to  their 
people,  and  that  night  the  buffalo  came  forth  from  the  mountain. 

In  the  next  tale,  which  relates  the  origin  of  the  medicine-arrows, 
we  have  an  account  of  the  culture  hero,  who  at  an  early  age  mani- 
fested extraordinary  powers  as  a  medicine-man  of  the  wonder- 
working type.  Continuing,  the  tale  relates  how  he  slew  a  mean  chief, 
fled  to  his  grandmother's  lodge  and  made  his  escape  in  the  vapor 
arising  from  an  overturned  vessel  over  the  fire.  He  was  pursued, 
four  times  transformed  himself  into  a  wolf,  and  later  reappeared  at 
the  camp  on  five  different  occasions,  each  time  dressed  in  a  different 
costume  and  his  body  differently  painted.  Thus  he  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  five  warrior  societies.  He  then  disappeared  for  a  period 
of  four  years,  during  which  time  he  visited  a  high  mountain  peak, 
was  admitted  to  the  lodge  in  its  center  and  there,  during  the  four 
years,  obtained  instruction.  At  the  end  he  was  given  a  bundle 
containing  the  sacred  arrows  and  received  full  instructions  concern- 
ing the  arrow  ceremony.  He  returned  to  his  tribe,  which  in  the 
mean  time  was  slowly  starving,  and  performed  the  medicine-arrow  cere- 
mony, which  caused  the  buffalo  to  appear.  This  culture  hero,  called 
Standing-Medicine,  or  Standing  Sweet-Grass  (Motzeyouf),  is  also 
referred  to  in  No.  2  of  this  series,  in  the  account  of  the  medicine- 
arrow  ceremony.  There,  as  here,  he  is  culture  hero  of  a  tale  which 
has  a  fairly  wide  distribution  over  the  plains,  and  is  often  entitled 
The  Poor  Boy  and  the  Mean  Chief.  After  slaying  the  mean  chief  in  a 
fit  of  anger,  he  goes  to  a  mountain  and  returns  with  four  arrows.  He 
then  organizes  the  tribe,  placing  the  guardians  of  the  arrows  first, 
then  the  medicine-men,  the  chiefs,  and  finally  the  warriors.  These 
he  organizes  into  five  distinct  societies.  He  was  not  only  an  organ- 
izer, but  a  prophet,  and  foretold  many  things. 

The  last  myth,  entitled  The  Origin  of  the  Sun-Dance,  relates  to 
a  culture  hero  having  many  elements  in  common  with  Standing- 
Medicine.  This  culture  hero  belonged  to  the  so-called  Half -Cheyenne, 
or  Sutayo  band,  and  later  came  to  be  known  as  Erect-Horns.  The 
scene  of  the  tale  is  in  the  North,  where  famine  prevails.  The  tribe 
is  camped  in  a  circle.  Being  commanded  by  the  chief  to  perform 
a  ceremony  in  pairs,  one  of  the  men — the  culture  hero — selects  the 
wife  of  the  chief  of  the  tribe,  and  with  her  he  sets  out  on  a  forty- 
day  journey.  During  this  time  they  fast  and  finally  arrive  at  a 
forest  in  the  midst  of  which  is  a  lofty  mountain.  They  enter  the 
mountain  by  means  of  a  door,  and  find  that  the  interior  resembles 


52       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

a  Sun-Dance  lodge.  There  for  four  days  they  receive  instructions 
from  the  Great  Medicine,  and  a  buffalo  cap  is  given  them,  which 
they  are  to  wear  during  the  ceremony.  As  they  leave  the  mountain 
the  earth  seems  reanimated,  and  buffalo  follow  them.  They  return 
to  their  tribe,  who  are  starving,  perform  the  Sun-Dance  ceremony, 
and  the  buffalo  appear. 

Thus  it  appears  that  the  tales  collectively  furnish  us  an  account 
of  two  culture  heroes,  or  one  culture  hero  with  two  names,  who  left 
the  camp,  visited  a  mountain,  witnessed  a  ceremony,  obtained  a 
bundle,  returned  to  the  camp  and  performed  a  ceremony  as  it  had 
been  witnessed,  with  the  result  that  the  tribe  was  rescued  from 
famine  at  that  particular  time  and  was  furnished  means  for  warding 
off  famine  and  their  enemies  in  the  future.  There  is  no  word  of 
explanation  as  to  why  the  ceremony  was  given  or  how  it  was  origi- 
nated in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  Standing-Medicine  and  Erect- 
Horns  simply  bring  to  the  people  a  special  medicine,  in  the  form 
of  a  ceremony  which  they  had  witnessed  and  in  which  they  had 
been  instructed  by  supernatural  beings. 

From,  a  consideration  of  the  myths,  or  the  ritualistic  side,  we  turn 
to  consider  the  organization,  as  we  find  it  with  its  attending  cere- 
monies and  rites.  In  the  first  section  we  have  a  brief  account  of 
the  journey  of  Standing-Medicine,  with  a  description  of  the  arrows, 
two  of  which  are  known  as  "man-arrows"  and  two  as  "buffalo- 
arrows,"  so-called  from  their  efficacy  in  calling  buffalo,  or  in  destroy- 
ing enemies.  Then  follows  a  necessarily  incomplete  description  of 
the  medicine-arrow  ceremony,  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

First  Day.  The  pledger,  or  one  who  has  vowed  to  make  the 
ceremony,  erects  his  tipi  in  the  center  of.  the  camp  circle.  To  this 
tipi  offerings  or  sacrifices  are  made.  The  warrior  societies  decide 
upon  the  place  to  erect  the  medicine- arrow  lodge  proper.  The 
medicine-men  now  occupy  this  tipi,  while  the  warrior  societies  police 
the  camp. 

Second  Day.  The  pledger,  with  three  men,  removes  the  offer- 
ings from  the  sacrifice  tipi  to  the  medicine-arrow  lodge.  They  then 
go  to  the  tipi  of  the  keeper  of  the  medicine-arrow  bundle  and  bring 
the  bundle  to  the  medicine-arrow  lodge.  The  bundle  is  opened, 
and  should  they  require  it,  the  assistant  arrow-keepers  prepare  the 
arrows. 

Third  Day.  Tally  sticks  are  provided,  each  representing  a  Chey- 
enne family;  incense  is  burned  during  the  entire  day  in  the  medicine- 
arrow  lodge.  The  medicine-men  throughout  the  camp  devote  their 
time  to  renovating  and  preparing  their  individual  medicines. 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  53 

Fourth  Day.  The  bundle  of  sacred  arrows  is  taken  by  the  assistant 
arrow-keepers  and  attached  to  a  pole  which  is  erected  in  front  of  the 
medicine-arrow  lodge.  The  presents  or  offerings  are  brought  out 
and  laid  by  the  pole.  The  arrows  may  now  be  inspected  by  every 
male  of  whatsoever  age  in  the  tribe.  As  they  are  inspected,  addi- 
tional offerings  are  made.  After  the  inspection  the  warriors  raze 
the  medicine-arrow  lodge  and  re-erect  it  over  the  present  site  of  the 
bundle,  and  it  is  now  called,  the  prophet's  lodge.  The  medicine- 
arrows  are  now  returned  to  the  arrow-keeper.  On  the  night  of  this 
day  all  the  medicine-men,  including  the  pledger,  or  prophet,  as  he 
is  now  called,  enter  the  prophet's  lodge  and  sing  the  traditional 
songs,  after  which  the  prophet  prophesies.  At  about  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  lodge  is  uncovered,  the  keeper  and  medicine- 
men return  to  the  site  of  the  tipi  erected  on  the  first  day,  and  known 
as  the  sacrifice  tipi,  where  a  sweat  lodge  has  been  erected.  During 
the  sweat  bath  they  chant  four  times  and  remove  their  paint,  and 
the  ceremony  is  at  an  end. 

Sections  2,  3  and  4  of  this  memoir  relate  to  the  duties  of  the  keeper 
and  the  assistant  keepers  of  the  medicine-arrows  and  of  the  medicine- 
men and  their  relation  to  the  keeper  of  the  arrows. 

The  next  section  is  devoted  to  the  chiefs  and  describes  the  cere- 
monies and  rites  attendant  upon  the  election  of  new  chiefs.  The 
camp  circle  is  formed.  A  bundle,  known  as  the  chief's  bundle,  is 
opened  by  the  medicine-arrow  keepers,  and  forty  tally  sticks,  known 
as  the  chief's  sticks,  are  erected.  The  chiefs  select  five  men,  one 
from  each  of  the  important  Cheyenne  bands.  These  men  are  brought 
to  the  lodge  and  seated  in  a  certain  position,  a  chief's  stick  being 
placed  in  front  of  each  new  member.  Then  the  old  chiefs  in  a  body 
bring  in  the  other  thirty-five  men  whom  they  have  selected  as  new 
chiefs,  the  medicine-men  erecting  a  stick  in  front  of  each  one.  All 
are  now  seated  and  the  chiefs'  pipe  is  smoked.  Then  one  of  the 
four  assistant  arrow-keepers  addresses  the  newly  appointed  chiefs 
on  their  duties  and  instructs  them,  and  appoints  four  Of  the  number 
of  the  retiring  chiefs,  generally  medicine-men,  to  serve  as  advisors. 
These  advisors  are  also  the  medicine-arrow  keepers,  and  are  so 
selected  that  one  represents  a  magic-working  medicine-man,  the 
second  a  pledger  of  the  arrow  ceremony,  or  prophet,  the  third  a  Sun- 
Dance  priest,  and  the  fourth  a  pledger  of  the  buffalo  ceremony. 

The  remainder  of  this  memoir,  except  the  last  section,  is  devoted 
to  the  warrior  societies.  These  in  general  are  similar  to  the  societies 
of  the  Arapaho,  but  are  different  from  the  Arapaho  in  certain  fea- 
tures.    Thus,  they  are  not  graduated  in  rank  as  are  the  Arapaho, 


54       Field  Columbian  Museum  —  Anthropology,  Vol.  IX. 

but  a  member  of  any  age  may  become  a  member  of  any  one  of  the 
societies.  Each  society  is  controlled  by  a  chief  and  seven  assistants. 
Each  society  has  certain  paints,  costumes,  songs,  and  characteristic 
dances.  Four  of  the  societies  admit  four  maidens  to  their  lodge; 
these,  as  a  rule,  are  daughters  of  chiefs.  The  first  society  is  known 
as  the  Red  Shield  Warriors,  the  name  being  derived  from  the  fact 
that  each  carries  a  large  red  shield  of  buffalo  hide,  so  cut  as  to  retain 
the  tail  of  the-  buffalo  in  the  form  of  a  pendant.  From  the  fact 
that  they  wore  a  head-dress  of  the  scalp  of  the  buffalo  they  are  some- 
times called  the  Buffalo  Warriors.  The  belt  of  their  costume  is 
suggestive  of  the  Arapaho  Lance  or  Clubboard  Society.  The  lance 
which  they  carry,  however,  is  suggestive  of  the  weapon  used  by  the 
Arapaho  Tomahawk  Society. 

Second  in  order  is  the  Hoof -rattle,  or  Dew-claw  society,  so  called 
because  each  warrior  carried  a  rattle  in  the  form  of  a  shaft,  with 
dew-claw  pendants.  The  general  emblem  of  the  society  was  an  elk 
horn  musical  instrument,  shaped  in  the  form  of  a  snake.  This  was 
held  over  a  piece  of  rawhide,  which  acted  as  a  resonator,  and  the 
noise  to  accompany  the  songs  and  dancing  was  produced  by  drawing 
over  it  a  deer's  scapula.  The  nearest  approach  to  this  society  among 
the  Arapaho  is  the  Tomahawk. 

The  Coyote  society,  or  Coyote  Warriors,  derive  their  name  from 
the  fact  that  the  members  imitate  the  coyote  and  that  the  emblem 
of  the  society  is  a  coyote  skin.  This  society  may  be  compared  with 
the  Star  or  Kit-Fox  of  the  Arapaho. 

The  Dog-men  society  is  said  to  be  the  largest  among  the  Cheyenne, 
and  includes  in  its  number  half  of  the  males  of  the  tribe.  Formerly 
they  controlled  the  entire  tribe.  They,  like  the  Arapaho  Dog-soldiers, 
wear  scarfs  which  trail  to  the  ground  and  represent  degrees.  Also, 
like  the  Arapaho  society  of  the  same  name,  they  wear  whistles  hung 
about  their  necks  and  use  rattles  with  porcupine  quills  and  dew-claw 
pendants.  In  the  account  of  the  origin  of  the  society  it  is  related 
how  the  society  was  formed  with  the  assistance  of  the  dogs  of  the 
camp. 

The  fifth  society  is  known  as  the  Inverted,  or  Bow-string  warriors. 
It  is  peculiar  in  the  fact  that  it  has  no  chief  and  there  are  no  degrees. 
It  is,  strictly  speaking,  a  warrior  society,  and  the  members  are  sup- 
posed to  be  always  ready  for  war.  The  emblem  of  the  society  is  a 
peculiarly  constructed  bow-spear.  The  characteristic  features  of  the 
society  are  similar  to  those  of  the  Lime  Crazy  society  of  the  Arapaho, 
inasmuch  as  their  speech  and  action  reverse  the  usual  order.  Another 
point  of  similarity  is  to  be  noted  in  their  head-dress. 


March,  1905.  The   Cheyenne  —  Dorsey.  55 

The  last  society,  said  to  have  originated  within  recent  times,  was 
founded  by  Owl -man,  and  is  known  as  the  Wolf  society.  In  the 
mythological  account  of  this  society  it  is  related  how  Owl-man  was 
rescued  from  perishing  of  cold  by  wolves,  who  took  him  to  their 
lodge  and  gave  him  the  ceremony.  Each  warrior  carries  a  spear 
and  wears  a  cape  made  of  wolf -skin. 

The  last  section  of  Part  I.  is  devoted  to  the  Sun-Dance.  Inas- 
much as  this  subject  is  to  receive  special  treatment  in  the  second 
number  of  this  volume,  comment  is  deferred  until  that  time. 


